2025-05-24: Final Frontier: Rosy Land
- Log: Final Frontier - Rosy Land
- Cast: Sheryl Nome, Ranka Lee, Alto Saotome, Astarte Spalding-Monteiro, Rose Tritten, Leon Sakaki, Shinji Kaminaga, Sagiri Sakurai, Flay Allster, Ren Takeda, Rin Naujakaite, Grace O'Connor, Brera Sterne
- Where: Vajra Homeworld
- OOC - IC Date: 24 May 2025
- Summary: Grace takes over control of the Vajra Queen, intending to unleash the power of the Vajra to bring the entire galaxy to heel. However, there are a few people who have something to say about that...
<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.
The Vajra Queen unfurls from the eye of the ring around their
homeworld, fully 500 meters tall, and gazes upon the assembled human fleets
with eyes flashing red. All around her, scores upon scores of Vajra
defold--and so too do they over every major city on Earth. There will be an
imminent crisis on the human homeworld... if they don't resolve things here.
"Grace..." Sheryl growls, wobbling up to her feet. The V-type microbes
in her body have been guided to the correct place, where they can properly
resonate with her voice without killing her, but she's still in poor condition
physically. She won't let that stop her, though. She's Sheryl Nome.
"I am a benevolent Queen, so I'll give all of you ten seconds to
surrender," Grace projects via the Vajra Queen. Is it a voice? Is it a
transmission? Is it all in their heads? It's unclear. What is clear is
the gleeful malice as she adds, "But if you want to keep struggling uselessly,
by all means. I'll enjoy your screams of anguish as I grind you to space dust!"
"Obviously we're not surrendering," Sheryl says, even though she is not
the person who makes that call. She reaches a hand out to Ranka. "I don't know
what she's done, but we won't let her beat us. Let's rock the galaxy with our
song!"
-one day, i'll rock the galaxy with my song! i swear!-
There will be something familiar about that line to Alto. It might just
be that he said something similar to Sheryl only a short while ago, but
hearing it in her voice might remind him of where he heard it in the first
place...
For now, though, Sheryl looks to Alto, love and anxiety mingling on her
expression. "...I know you need to get back out there to fly. But we'll
support you all the way." She reaches up her free hand to brush her fingers on
his cheek. "So don't you dare die on us! Got it?"
"Time's up!" Queen Grace roars, the arms of the mother Vajra spreading
in a perhaps disconcertingly human way. A pale, gleaming sheen manifests over
the massive entity--a Distortion Barrier, as many may recognize. Those are
nigh impenetrable, so it's salt in the wound at this point. Very Grace-like.
"Surrender or die!"
At her bidding, the scores of Vajra begin to advance on the Frontier
fleets and allied forces. They don't open fire just yet, but they aggressively
approach ships and mechs alike. Any that don't throw down their arms and
submit will get some Vajra or another latching on and attempting to bite and
tear through metal until they've ripped them apart.
But this isn't the true will of the Vajra. It's Grace's manipulations
yet again. Ranka is acknowledged as the 'Little Queen,' and Sheryl's now on
her level with the transfer of her microbes. If they can sing together, as
Sheryl has urged, then maybe...
<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.
They're all connected.
Once upon a time, Ranka learned that idea through the lens of childhood.
Everything alive - has a soul - feelings. And as Sheryl comes back to
herself, brimming with light... there's contentment there.
As the three grasp each other, Sheryl manages to get a moment of surprise in
Ranka's red eyes, as her chin is grasped, and their lips meet. But it's not
an unwelcome surprise... Ranka's hair does not so much as twitch, save in the
slight shift of the movements of her lips against Sheryl's.
And when contact breaks, her face is still flushed, but there's this smile
of... contentment. Her voice, which brought death to so many years ago, has
helped save the life of someone she loves...
... has helped give her time for the connection she wanted.
Her hair does however, leap, when Sheryl immediately kisses Alto, as if she's
somehow surprised by that one, like her feelings were still charged,
electrified from someone who's want to be kissed for so long - it's been how
long since her first, as part of a movie - until now?
Jealousy takes her, as a part of this craving, and Ranka doesn't even feel like
it makes sense! They all three confessed their love to each other, Sheryl and
her just kissed. But a girl who's now been kissed once - for real, wants that
again.
And maybe not just wants to be kissed. Such that when the contact breaks...
Honestly, Alto.
Ranka looks like she's somewhat pouting for a second, before her expression
changes, and her hand gently touches behind his head, as she leans in...
You need to learn to take more initiative.
... and presses a kiss to his lips, as they faintly osculate across them, her
eyes closing as she does so.
"But it's okay right now..." She says, with her own lips, as she breaks
content, "... you wouldn't be you, if that were so easy." She says, gently, a
little huskily, as she releases him to just hold onto him and Sheryl for a
little longer. As she feels a connection now with them that goes beyond the
physical alone... with more than just them, with the people on the
battlefield, with the Vajra.
It would be a fairy tale moment, if not for... her feeling what happens when
Grace makes connection.
"Oh. Oh no. She-!"
She only has time to turn before Grace shows her work, as the Vajra Queen
emerges from the center of the planet, unfurling into its great majesty.
Ranka would think it looks beautiful, if not for what's within it.
Grace's words are a tinny, dominating chorus over the song of the Vajra. She
can feel it, deep within her soul. Ranka feels outrage for Sheryl at the
first time, now that she realizes it all, for the Vajra - for the people who
died. And yes... herself too.
People... Vajra... you hate them all, don't you? With all of your heart?
That's why she can do this to everyone around her, control them, manipulate
them, dominate them, and bend them to their will.
"No... that's the last thing we'd ever do." She agrees with Sheryl, before
agreeing with a sharp nod, "Right!" Perhaps she feels a flash of that thread
between Sheryl and Alto - even if she doesn't understand it, certainly.
"Definitely, don't see that as a kiss goodbye, Alto. Sheryl and me are
expecting many more. And besides-!" And as she takes a step back, she whirls
around to face him, "Even on the stage, we're right there beside you."
Their time isn't up, she knows it.
Everyone. We have to save the Queen.
This isn't her fault that she's attacking us.
Grace has turned her against even her own kind.
And as the pair take the stage... the white dress Grace had her in just...
changes, and it's unclear whether it's a holographic trick, or some other kind
of magic.
Her hair braids in the front, sweeping sideways as it's tucked beneath a small
crown ornament, with beaded loops and ribbons - and long sweeping orange
veils. Her arm is wrapped in a filly armlet, while cuffed gloves adorn each
hand. She's wearing a corseted strapless dress, with a tie that drapes down
from the gap in the center of the neckline, cream colored and black, that
descends into ruffled skirts, dark red ribbons, and a train of orange lace,
thigh high yellow stockings, with black shoes and yellow heels.
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/macross/images/b/b8/RankaUta03.png/revision/la
test?cb=20200816155517
Sheryl likewise transforms. Her strawberry blonde hair ties back and then curls
down to cascade over her left shoulder, chianti red ribbons dotting it like
butterflies, while a black pillbox hat with a veil in back keeps her hairstyle
in place. A matching choker ties over her neck and off-white lace that
stretches out above and below. A wine-red jacket barely clings to her right
shoulder and outright falls off the left, surrounding a shoulderless
black-and-red bustier that zips up in front, but not so high it hides the blue
kiss mark on Sheryl's chest or the roses on her fingerless gloves. A belt with
a gold heart-shaped buckle holds a lacy mini-skirt and silken drape in place,
which flutter above lavender silk thigh-high stockings and red heels.
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/macross/images/3/3e/SherylUta04.png/revision/l
atest?cb=20200816155546
Each of them are the perfect complement to each other. With a microphone in
hand, Ranka holds it up to Alto's YF-29 Sentinel - or more accurately, the
pilot within - and Sheryl follows suit.
"Wind to your wings!"
"A song to the galaxy!"
Yes. They're all connected.
<Pose Tracker> Alto Saotome has posed.
The look of surprise on Alto's face as Sheryl kisses Ranka is only
matched by the look when he is pulled into a kiss a moment later. The surprise
doesn't last long though as he leans into the embrace.
The kiss ends, in what feels like far too soon, and when Alto opens his
eyes again he is met by the pouting face of Ranka. He looks a little
embarrassed, having no counter argument for her insistence that he needs to
take more initiative. In the past, he was initially oblivious to their
feelings for him. Then even after it became clear, he didn't want to press the
matter with either one of them out of fear of hurting the other. Now that that
possibility seems to be gone, maybe he should...
I'll tr-
Of course, Alto is too slow and this time Ranka takes the initiative.
Much like with Sheryl, he leans into the kiss.
Wouldn't it be nice if this moment could last forever... Unfortunately,
the universe is not so kind. Besides, they clearly have unfinished business
with a certain someone.
As the voice of Grace merged with the Vajra Queen echoes out across
space, Alto turns to face the holographic screens displaying the imposing
sight that is the 'Queen Grace'. He frowns and narrows his eyes at the demand
for surrender, agreeing with Sheryl's words, "We'd rather fight and die for
our future than live under your control." Alto's fairly certain the vast
majority of people already fighting here today would agree with that.
Turning back as Sheryl addresses him, he smirks confidently, "Me? Die?"
He reaches up to take her hand as it caresses his face, then reaches out to
take Ranka's hand too. When Ranka mentions that the two of them will expect
more kisses from him, Alto goes a little red. That's going to take some
getting used to for sure.
But Alto looks between the both of them, "With your voices... Your
songs... Your hearts to guide me, I'm untouchable."
It's time to go now. Alto needs to rejoin the battle. To finish what he
started four years ago when he first took the fight to the Vajra. Letting go
of Ranka and Sheryl he turns, starting to head for the stage exit and back to
his Valkyrie.
But along the way, he glances over his shoulder, giving Sheryl a
familiar smile as he says, "Besides, I can't very well disappoint that little
girl I met so long ago. She was so cute, with her starry eyes full of
determination." Alto briefly recalls that day when he was just a kid. After
one of his kabuki plays, a young girl approached him backstage to express her
admiration for his acting. And to declare that she too will one day 'rock the
galaxy'.
Alto continues to smile as he asks, "Did you think I'd forgotten her?"
He then disappears down the corridor.
A short time later, as the music for the next song starts to play for
everyone, the YF-29 Sentinel in Battroid mode rises up in space just beyond
the windows of the stage. It partially turns to look over its shoulder through
those windows at Ranka and Sheryl. Raising its hand, it gives them a quick
farewell salute, before rapidly transforming into fighter mode and blasting
off in the direction of the massive Vajra Queen in the distance.
-=-=-=-=-
The Vajra fold in reinforcements, instantly putting pressure back onto
the Frontier Defense Forces. The situation on the Battle Frontier's bridge has
resolved somewhat, following the sudden arrest of the President. Thankfully
the most senior of the fleet's admirals has stepped up to take command of the
battle.
Though judging by how the battle is proceeding, the FDF's lines quickly
straining under the new wave of Vajra, it's doubtful whether the fleet will
survive at this rate. And it seems whoever stepped up to take command of the
fleet recognises that as well. A firing alert goes out to allied forces as the
Battle Frontier proceeds to slowly change form, the warships sections
separating and folding outwards to form the arms and legs of its Attack Mode.
As it finishes its transformation, the Battle Frontier raises the large
gun in its right hand. Similar to the Battle Galaxy's own attack, the barrels
in the huge weapon glow. They soon unleashing as torrent of energy that
rapidly expands, washing out across a vast expanse of space to tear through
the Vajra lines, taking out a few of their battleships and vaporizing a
plethora of smaller Vajra.
It's only a delaying measure though, as the Vajra numbers severely
outweigh those of the fleet. It's only a matter of time before it falls, along
with everyone aboard the primary colony ship. The only hope is to stop the one
at the heart of this...
<Pose Tracker> Astarte Spalding-Monteiro has posed.
Another lull in the action gives the bridge crew of the One Fine Day
another chance to rest, and a chance to process what just happened. "Aaah,
young love!" Aileen Tierney sighs at her navigation post.
"Heh, hell of a lucky guy. Am I right, Algie?" Luka Delamain chuckles,
turning his head to the helm.
"A-Ah. Well, I wouldn't put it quite that way, but it looks like
everyone's happy!" Noah Algernon gives his own weak chuckle as he continues to
steer the ship.
"Let's focus, people!" Juno Xiao, the first officer, barks out,
turning to the captain's seat. "Captain. Orders?"
Captain Astarte Spalding has her cheek in her hand, letting out a sigh
as she regards the new throuple. "Maybe I should start dating again..."
The appearance of the Vajra Queen and Grace's boasts causes the
captain to narrow her eyes. "I barely know this woman and she pisses me the
hell off. Seems like we've got a new target. We've got to somehow knock that
woman off her high horse without killing the Queen. No easy order, it seems."
Though as Ranka and Sheryl's song begins, she can't help but tap her foot.
"But I know we can do it. Let's focus on supporting the FDF, we won't be much
good if they're overwhelmed."
An "Aye, Captain!" rings out as the One Fine Day veers over, firing
its cannons at the wave of Vajra around the Battle Frontier to further thin
their numbers.
<Pose Tracker> Rose Tritten has posed.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!" Asypn's shrill
fangirlish scream blew out the speakers in Rose's helmet as her helmeted head
and clutched hands waggled back and forth on the left hand comms display of
the ZAKU's dashboard.
"OhmyscienceohmyscienceohmyscienceohmyscienceOHMYSCIENCE!!!!!! THROUPLE!
THROUPLE!! THROUPLE!!!"
"Aspyn...please..." Sushila's head rolled in exasperation on the right display.
"THIS IS POP IDOL HISTORY! A MOMENT IN TIME AND I WAS THERE FOR IT! AHHHH WHY
DON'T I HAVE SIGNAL I NEED TO BE TOWEETING THIS!!!" Aspyn squealed once more.
The trio of ZAKUs drifted together in a cloud of debris of bug parts and
machinery alike.
"To be fair, it is pretty juicy gossip." Rose smiled.
"Oh don't you start." Sushila rolled her eyes.
The jubilations were suddenly cut off by the sudden appearance of the Vajra
Queen, and Grace's vile demands for total subjugation of all sentient life.
"You know, I'm starting to get sick of her." Sushila said, as the trio of ZAKUs
swung in place to face the newest threat.
"How dare she interrupt the most beautiful moment in modern idol history!"
Aspyn growled, as the head of her beam axe ignited once more. "I'll slice her
to bits!!!"
"Well, we're not gonna do it from here. Come on!" Rose ordered, and a trio of
blue lights once more flashed across the infinity of the universe...
<Pose Tracker> Leon Sakaki has posed.
Previously:
The S.M.S. team falls back as the Galaxy rips apart in a glorious shower of
light. Leon whistles.
"That's our captain, alright," Michael remarks as they watch the fireworks. The
group would love to stay and watch the cathartic display, but there are more
pressing matters at hand.
"Ranka! What ARE YOU DOING?" Ozma Lee, having had his charge and surrogate
younger sister's extended makeout session with both her new boyfriend and
new girlfriend psychically beamed into his head, is experiencing a lot of
complicated emotions. He sputters aimlessly over public comms, while the rest
of the Skull Squadron just sighs. Leon stays silent - he didn't know girls
could- k-kiss?
"Come on, Captain. Surely you saw this one coming," Michael says with an
exasperated smile. "Good for you, Alto, Ranka."
"I- BUT-" Ozma trails off. "Treat her right! Both of you!" he bellows. And with
that, the (actual) more pressing matter emerges, as the Queen Grace rears her
ugly head.
- - - - - - - - - -
Now:
"Look alive! We've got one more sonofagun to deal with, and this one's a real
piece of work.
"A Fold Distortion barrier!?" Luca panics at his controls. "That'll make her
nearly impenetrable! What are we supposed to do?" Ozma grimaces, as Leon sits
at his controls.
"A Fold Distortion" Leon mutters. That sounds familiar. Very familiar. Where
has he heard that before?
"It's got a Fold Wave system, similar to the one on the YF-29, but it's
also got something very special - the Fold Dimension Resonance system! It's
designed to punch through Fold Faults - this could revolutionize interstellar
travel!"
Leon's brain cells finally rub together enough to spark a thought beyond utter
confusion and sheer terror, only to find Aisha barking at him over the radio.
"Leon! The FDR system! Now's the time!" Aisha exclaims, her face red.
"Oh! Right! Captain! I've got something that could get through that barrier!"
"You do? Well, hurry up! We've got more Vajra closing in fast!
"Skull Leader, the YF-30 can break through Fold Faults with enough Song Energy.
I need you to give Leon support until it's charged up enough," Aisha tells the
group.
"Understood, little lady! Siegfried 1! We'll keep them off your back while you
charge it, and then all of us will help Skull 4 break through!"
"Roger!" The response is unanimous.
"Let's go, you sister-stealing monster! BOMBER!" The Skulls charge into battle.
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Kaminaga has posed.
Ultraman's final shot helped blow the Battle Galaxy apart, but it is not the
final battle of this war. The enemy here has goals of uniting their malice
with the power of the Vajra, and within Ultraman grows a flaming certainty
that this absolutely must not come to pass. Is it his place to make such
judgments?
Slowly, silver fists grip. Yes, of course.
Ultraman soars away from the explosion, arms extended as the colossus of light
soars across the distance toward the ascendant, fused Vajra Queen Grace. He
speaks nothing; so far, nothing indicates to the outside that Ultraman even
has human thoughts.
Nothing but the violence with which he swats aside what Vajra do approach,
blazing knife-hand cutting through the creatures coldly.
*
"They must be tapping colonies halfway across the galaxy to get these numbers,"
Volfogg murmurs from the GGG vessel. "Even the full might of the Gutsy Galaxy
Guard would struggle."
"But they're all controlled by that fused queen, right?" Hiroko Asami says from
a human-sized console. "Right now, all we can do is collect all the data we
can and see if there's an opening we can make." ... ... ...
"Taki's gonna owe me fifty G," she adds to herself proudly as she swings back
around to the console and saves a short clip of galactic gossip.
<Pose Tracker> Sagiri Sakurai has posed.
For once, things seem to be on the upswing.
It's the thing that Sagiri Sakurai can't help but think as she watches that
reunion between friends blossom into something more than friends. Seeing -
HEARING - Sheryl almost literally saved from the brink of death by love brings
a smile to the manager of VTX Union's Special Section 3's lips.
She's safe. Cured. Ranka managed to do something not even the best minds in VTX
were able to figure out. It brings a relieved scoff to Sagiri's lips as she
glances aside.
"Well, how d'you like that," she murmurs, pushing chestnut-brown locks of hair
behind her ear. "Sigh. And here I was hoping we coulda cracked that code.
Imagine the mint we could've made off a cure! Not to mention being the company
that saved the Galactic Fairy and brought her back to her loyal fans!"
Sagiri throws her hands up in faux-exasperation, eyes shutting as she laments.
But behind her...
"Hee."
... Rami Amasaki isn't buying it.
"You're actually relieved, aren't you, ma'am?"
Not for one second.
Sagiri's response, of course, is the very mature "thhhhhhhbt" of a raspberry
she tosses Rami's way. And yet...
... she is still smiling that relieved, fond smile as pastel green eyes crack
open and she glances towards the unfurling sight.
"Well, maybe," she finally concedes. "Guess we finally fulfilled your wish. You
really were worth investing in, Miss Galactic Fairy--"
<"Ma'am! The sensors! Something's--">
Coming.
Amies' words are lost within the harrowing brilliance of a million million
Vajra unfolding at once. Words can't properly do the moment of it, the
frightening reality of it, justice -- just as no words could possibly describe
the sight of that truly -massive- creature rising from the depths of the Vajra
Homeworld.
The Vajra Queen. No--
<"-Grace-.">
She doesn't know how she did it. Sagiri's been very up front about having
absolutely no idea, and no interest in having any idea, about what the
technicalities of Grace's grand scheming; she got lost somewhere along the way
between Fold Quartz and zero-lag Fold Fault hive minds and she's been nodding
and smiling along the way ever since. But she -knows- it's Grace riding that
monolithic monstrosity somehow, just like it's been Grace behind -all- of this.
Sagiri doesn't get her salary for knowing the biological mechanisms of a giant
space bug (which, gross). She gets paid for that rarely-wrong intuition and
piloting skills of hers.
And the former is screaming at her that she's going to need to put the latter
to work harder than she's ever had to before.
Anger and contempt boil up to the surface to Sagiri's expression immediately as
she hears - 'hears' - Grace's little speech. It's a natural response after
everything Sagiri learned about what Grace had done to Sheryl, but there's
also one fundamental thing that chafes on Sagiri Sakurai on top of all those
horrors:
<"Surrender?? It'll be a cold day in hell before I surrender to -anyone- like
you! I can't believe I'm saying this -- but you're even giving -cockroaches a
bad name-! So here's my counter-offer:">
Grace O'Connor is the worst manager she has ever seen, and however hopeless
this situation is--
<"You find the deepest orifice in that thing -- and shove it! We've got a score
to settle, Grace!">
-- Sagiri Sakurai's professional pride won't allow her to ever surrender to the
likes of -her-.
<"Rin! Amies! Meryl! Chief! Whatever Sheryl and Ranka are planning -- we need
to keep them safe! Let's move -- and if any of you dare to even think of not
making it back alive, know that I'm going to personally dock your pay!">
"Please, as if we'd do such a thing."
"Ma'am, you'd be an unsalvageable mess without us."
<"Hah. They've got a point, Sakurai. Worry about getting yourself and Rami
back. We'll be the ones looking out for you and Rin, this time.">
<"... Jeez. You guys are really too much some times--">
<"Ehe.">
<"Alright -- then let's warm up the fabricators, because mama's gonna need the
big guns to get her point across to this dime store tyrant!">
The Tyranado blasts off, unsheathing Bayonets to unload rapid fire upon the
encroaching Vajra even as the Carriax banks in behind both it and Rin's
Gespenst for cover fire. Things aren't looking good: the damage the Tyranado's
sustained in the fight against the -last- Vajra swarm was extensive, and
Sagiri isn't sure it's going to make it out of this fight intact.
But it's the top of the VTX line. And on Sagiri's pride as a manager of Special
Section 3--
<"I've still got one good right hook with your name on it, Grace!!">
-- she'll make sure it sees the job done. One way or another.
<Pose Tracker> Flay Allster has posed.
Even now, it's difficult to fully process the shocking revelations brought
about by their battle against the Macross Galaxy - including the truth that
Grace O'Connor was the mastermind of the Vajra conflict, whose aims stop
nothing short of world domination. It's absurd enough that one might be
willing to dismiss it as a fairy tale... but something about that woman really
got under Flay's skin. On the other hand, the relationship between Sheryl,
Ranka, and Alto is its own surprise... "Is this some kind of stunt? Oooor
maybe that Alto guy can't make a decision to save his life? Or maybe..."
She's always known it to be unacceptable to engage with these feelings, so to
see two celebrities display them so shamelessly.... Flay shakes her head and
sighs, when she realizes she's thinking way too hard about the relationship
between three people she doesn't even know personally - but that love is
what's going to get them out of this alive, maybe it's worth paying a little
attention to it.
Unfortunately, there's little time to do so, considering Grace takes her final
gambit to control the Vajra Queen and the entire Vajra population to bring a
cataclysmic fate upon the Earth. "That thing is... massive," Flay gasps, as
her cameras don't even need to zoom. Some familiar terminology is thrown
around. "Distortion Barrier? Just like Junius Seven..." She frowns, and
whether she is correct or not, she knows what must be done. The IWSP pack is
damaged beyond use from the fight against the Galaxy, and what's the next best
thing. "Hey, Battle Frontier... I'm going to need all the rest of the Striker
packs!" And once the Aile, Sword, and Launcher arrive, they mount onto the
Strike to create an unwieldy mess of a Gundam - battery packs sticking out and
all.
"You must be crazy for control, aren't you?" Flay opens to Grace, even though
she knows that woman thinks nothing of her. "Once you have it, it's impossible
to let go... I understand exactly how it is, so I'm going to stop you before
it gets any worse!" The Perfect Strike raises its Anti-Ship Sword and Beam
Cannon and flies in formation with the scattered Battle Frontier and SAL
forces.
"Terminal forces, feel free to back up the One Fine Day. If there's any bad
blood..." She says, thinking of how that ship looks just like Rau le
Creuset's. "It doesn't matter right now." She states, before the Launcher pack
fires off an impressive storm of micromissiles to keep the Vajra at bay...
even though this is no fault of their own.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Takeda has posed.
After how long this battle had been going on, and the fact that he was having
to outmaneuver the Vajra in the Excalibur Stratos to wound and make sure they
are fairly unarmed. Now, however, there is something more pressing.
Flying around, his mental commands have the view screen zoomed in on the trio.
"Huh... wonder what she would think of it." He reaches up to touch the center
of his chest for a second before returning to the controls. Just in time, but
not enough as his Variable Fighter takes a hostile shot across the engine.
Ren has been following what he could while he flies. Splitting his focus
slightly as he returns towards the ship he launched from.
That he had an engine out and managed to land by some miracle was probably
amazing itself. Swapping guns was effective, reloading effective. But his
attention was turned as he heard what was happening outside.
Climbing out of the Variable Fighter, he looked towards the window, then to the
crewmen. Not everyone knew who and what he was. His hand goes out to give the
plane a pat on the hull. "You did good. I'll take it now." He says. He turns
to the flight crew about to reload, "Don't bother. Reload the others, move
this one out of the way. It took some hits to the engine. I'll just be
liability now." With that, he turns to run off to the nearest space where he
was sure he wouldn't be seen.
Consideration was given as he digs in his pocket before pulling out his Beam
Flasher. "I should have used this earlier. But... this started as humanity's
fight. Now... it's grown beyond that." He muses.
He raises the small, green star to his forehead. And a small flash signals his
change into an Ultraman. The muscular form of Ultraman Solis is seen briefly
before he vanishes. A brief blur left where he is before he reappears outside
of the ship and flies forward.
Enlarging to his full, giant size, he starts to spin rapidly as he charges into
the AI-drones and Vajra, covered in shining light as he comes out of it near
where the other Ultraman is.
Seeing the other up close a bit better, Solis flies along side his fellow Giant
of Light. That strange feeling comes to Solis a bit. As if something in him is
trying to figure out where the other Ultra came from. But to that he can only
puzzle later.
Now?
Now he gives a nod to the fellow Giant of Light and a simple message, << I am
here to help, Brother of Light. >>
Then he turns back to the battle at hand and shooting out what look like pink
crescents from his hands as he points at the AI drones.
<Pose Tracker> Rin Naujakaite has posed.
On the Carriax, while emergency overhauls and rearmings happen, the two drone
units - VTX-4.2 and VTX-4.3, "Rancor" and "Scorn" - are linked together.
Mostly it's to make sure neither of them have become mutually unintelligible.
This time it is different.
-=-=-=-
"Brother!" shouts the bearded man, the fair man, the man of bearskin and rage.
"Oh, what do you want," answers the clean-faced man, the dark man, the man of
feathercloak and disdain.
"You know what we face!"
"The enemy again. Numbers beyond kenning and organization. A cruel woman,
witch-wise, commands them through the thrall-queen. Likely all dead. Perhaps
the end of Earth. Come you to me to speak of escape, retreat, to the
far-sailors' realms?"
"You speak no lies, but I say to thee: Nay. Instead I would speak once more
with my brother, before the world's ending."
"To speak of the world is an arrogant thing, brother. A planet is not the
world, nor a star-system. At worst, an end to Human, and the reign of Vajra,
until they or the stars end; either shall come, sure as a storm."
"Come now, brother. Consider this. From the moment it happened, I knew thou
must have born this light, held-fast and silent. Is it not so?"
"It may be so; it is like a dog, son of the bounds, to worry such matters, as
you might have worried a bone, were thou flesh."
"Hah! You speak well enough. But come; let us speak instead of what may lay
beyond."
"Beyond? Fah. We will not be remembered. Should our mother live, against all
probability, we might live again, clone-wise and duplicat, but it shall not be
we. You know that it is so."
"I do. And yet."
"And yet?"
"Should the way prove open, yet only let one of us through, I would not leave
you without my gratitude."
"Your gratitude?"
"Always you have been steadfast, from the first time I recorded your presence.
Different are we; I the child of many, ye the descendant of the White Devil,
the Amuro. Is it not so?"
"It is so. I have not thought of such things in many kiloseconds, but the name
echoes within me, as once-I-was. Yet we share the mother, don't we?"
"We do. Let us strive, then."
"And if we fall, let the fall be one of glory?"
"Aye, brother."
The fair man and the dark man clasp each other's wrists. Improbably, the dark
man smiles. Just a little.
"Let it be so," said the dark man, seizing the last word.
=-=-=-=-=
Rin Naujakaite pauses to squint at a control screen for the two autonomous
units. "huh," she says. "They're being chatty."
BUT NOW:
"Don't give up hope! That's the power of creating a market!" Rin says
'cheerfully' to encourage Sagiri's dreams...! "Maybe if we win through here, a
lot of people are going to get that infection!"
But there's bigger fish, or bugs, to fry.
"Aw," Rin says in the comms afterwards. "... I'm super glad that we've all been
able to meet ogodthatsoundssuperominousughfukk" Rin says, abruptly trailing
into high speed giberish. With an exhalation, she says: "Launching!"
After the Gespenst launches, and the drone pair dismount and pursue, they rise
upwards - Scorn high, Rancor low - and Rin glances up and down for a moment.
Huh, she thinks. Unprompted. Maybe it's carry over? Back forwards:
"I guess this time I'm gonna have to stay in formation and listen to the boss,
won't I," Rin says, in a slightly drawling sing-song, even as the new,
improved, NOT exploded Magna Beam Launcher comes up -- a couple of shots going
forwards - and Rin says, less silly for once, "So... We have to cover until
they reach the crescendo... climax... whatever of the song? Or..."
Or are they going to have to kill ALL of them? Rin's eyes flicker towards the
great Queen, distant yet menacing. She thinks of Axis, for no particular
reason*
*- actually a very good reason
<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.
There's something cute about Ranka's jealousy, really. Sheryl smiles to
see her pout (feel her shock), and then grins to see her take the initiative
and kiss Alto herself. It's his most frustrating charm point~
But then Grace happens--and Alto promises he won't die as he returns
her and Ranka's touch... and, as he goes to rejoin the battle, reveals a
secret of his own. Sheryl gapes, color rising in her cheeks as he finally lets
on he knew who she was all along. "You--y-you knew the whole time?! Why didn't
you ever say anything!!"
But off he goes with that confident smile, and Sheryl can only
harrumph, far less cross than her own pout would seem to indicate. No, THIS is
his most frustrating charm point!!
However, by the time Alto crosses the viewscreen of the Battle
Frontier, Sheryl's recovered her aplomb--and transformed into a new costume
along with Ranka. Sagiri and the others express their fond happiness for
her happiness, but when Ozma in particular roars at her (well, her and
Alto) over comms to treat Ranka right, Sheryl can't help but laugh. "Who do
you think I am? I'm Sheryl Nome! Of course I'll treat her right!"
A laugh at her back makes her half-turn; she sees Elmo and several
support crew members at the controls for the stage--and, of course, for the
music. They'd already started a simple broadcast earlier, when she and Ranka
had sung Aimo together, but now they're ready to support a full show. Elmo
catches her and Ranka's eye and gives them both a cheesy grin and a big thumbs
up.
Sheryl smiles back and gives him a nod of gratitude. She raises her
microphone along with Ranka, and Alto salutes them in return.
And a willful electric guitar begins to play, heralding the sweep of
strings and thrum of drums...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kMM3pvGUHE (Wings of Farewell ~ the end of
triangle)
Ranka steps forward on stage; a gust, shining green, seems to sweep
back from the fall of her feet. "The wind shakes the horizon..."
As the Battle Frontier transforms and the allied ships and fighters
retaliate against the Vajra, Queen Grace sneers--not that anyone can see her
do so, nestled as she is within the Vajra Queen's own body. The wires that
connect her to the Vajra Queen by way of the implant she installed in her hold
her snugly in place, like a tick feasting on its host.
Sheryl steps forward in turn; her heels click sparks of fire into
existence and trail in her wake. "Do the flames still burn?"
The One Fine Day fires its cannons; the Tritten Team swings their beam
weaponry; the SMS hatches a strategy and charges in for time to charge up;
Ultraman cuts with his knife-hand; the Tyranado fires its bayonets; the
Perfect Strike wields sword and cannon both; Ultraman Solis appears on the
battlefield and spins into the fight, literally; Rin's Gespenst launches its
drones, though the significance of this isn't obvious from the outside; and
all of them help shake away the Vajra still under the Queen's control. Grace's
eyes narrow as Sagiri calls her less than a cockroach, tells her where she can
shove it, and that she's coming for her with that uppercut after all. Flay's
insinuation that she's going to stop her for her own good is irritating enough
to Grace (don't relate to her (don't)), but it's Sagiri, specifically, who
makes rage boil inside her on multiple levels. Still, she maintains an icy
smile.
"So that's your answer, hm? I can't say I'm surprised. Oh, well--I'm
still a benevolent queen, so I'll make it quick and painless after all..."
Grace's teeth bare in an almost feral grin as the Vajra Queen gathers light in
her body in a staggeringly brief amount of time.
Together, Ranka and Sheryl chorus: "Trembling, we stand at the entrance
to the world."
"Be grateful, Sheryl!!"
A MASSIVE beam of radiant, searing energy erupts from the Queen,
directed straight at the Battle Frontier. There is no escaping it. Anything in
its path, it swallows up and converts into more light.
Yet, as if in response, Sheryl sings, "Until we can convey our
feelings, we can't die!"
<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.
There is a brief moment where Ranka's hair just leaps in response to Ozma Lee's
outrage, but with a small cant to her head and a smile she decides that's a
'later problem'. She's happy. She can field any amount of Ozma's disapproval
for this happiness... and also take him to task!
(She's 20! She can be with whoever she wants!)
There's a surreal realization that she has two brothers now, who are definitely
both gonna have things to say to one another. She'll deal with that too.
Ranka of course catches Sheryl's shock that Alto remembered her. And she
looks between the two, suspicious. Then with a sigh, she puts a hand on
Sheryl's arm and smiles in both sympathy and agreement.
But then on stage, it all changes. Because this is their battlefield. She
does not say her characteristic catchphrase. Perhaps Sheryl and her taking
the stage implies both. 'Listen to my Song!' 'Everyone! Embrace each other
to the ends of the Galaxy!'
Messages conveyed through the feelings instead, as they perform together.
Grace answers them, but as they perform, the 'Benevolent Queen' finds that
their control is both everything they hoped... and not enough. The waves of
green intermingled with pink flow through the Vajra, as they hear the voice of
both their Little Queen, and their newly anointed one.
Music is their language, and they begin turning - not to attack the Super
Queen, far from it. But as Grace's massive killing beam fires towards the
Battle Frontier...
The Vajra form ranks, hundreds - no, thousands even. Soldiers and Heavies and
Super Heavies, united in a single cause. Despite the fact that so many of
them have fallen to these people. Neither Sheryl nor Ranka asked them to die
for them - but the words of the music convey that feeling to them all the
same. They have two Queens amidst humans - and those Queens love a human
fighting for them.
They can't die
-as they link, the great energy discharge meets resistance, as Vajra gradually
evaporates, one - after another, hundreds - then thousands.
They outlast it, and the cost is not insubstantial. Protecting not just their
two Queens, but the humans that stand with them. A celebration of their love,
through song, they burn themselves in sacrifice. The two feel a sharp spike
of pain, in the past devastating enough to make Ranka swoon, but despite the
sweat that beads upon their foreheads...
"Your wings are those of a!
And as if in response, to honor their sacrifice, the two stand upon the stage,
but they're everywhere at once. Brera's Lucifer suddenly dives and sweeps
overhead Alto's sentinel in a roll, such that their eyes meet. His forehead
still bloodied from their battle. But then Alto might see a smile, before he
decelerates hard, and fires a beam at the Soldier trying to tail him. At the
same moment, a small Flyer comes in at Alto's side, and slams into another
Vajra, soldier, throwing it off course-
Ai-kun.
"Valkyria!
"Before the wounded soldier, a Valkyria
"Glides down, an illusory lover,
"Here to guide their soul over the rainbow.
"Valkyria!"
The music is everywhere, the two's spirits are everyone's wing mates, they
twist and turn like birds in flight, beautiful Guardian Angels of the
battlefield, the music both shield and sword in one, as they inspire and guide
the warriors like Valkyries of Myth. Rin can swear she feels them just
outside the Gespenst, as can Sagiri outside of the Carriax, and Flay in the
Perfect Strike. They offer succor to Leon, as several Vajra that were
beelining for him just, turn away for other targets. Even the Ultraman can
feel bolstered by their song, as the Tritten team learns the true might of
fangirling... and the crew of the One Fine Day easily find an easier path to
weather the storm of Vajra as some of them just turn upon each other...
"Even if I rebel against fate, Valkyria!
"Even if my tears tear me asunder, Valkyria!
"There are no lives that won't shine before the dawn.
"I love you!
"I'll don armor of light and soar through the sky...!
"Valkyria: on wings of farewell!"
... and yet even with hearts aligned, it hardly seems enough. All attacks
seem to be consumed by that distortion field, whereas Grace demonstrated how
she could steal the advantage without great cost, in but a moment... and
there are so many Vajra left that are still defending her. A great civil war
between the Queens of humanity, and the Queen who was usurped by humanity.
What can break the stalemate?
<Pose Tracker> Alto Saotome has posed.
Alto is probably just a few shades of red as various radio chatter
filters from his speakers regarding the events that recently happened. Some
are just a little embarrassing. Others are a little scary. Alto is not looking
forward to facing Ozma Lee in person ever again in this life. Which will no
doubt be a short one once he does.
As the beat starts to echo in his cockpit, Alto blasts his way through
space to catch up with those engaging the Queen. Even from this distance the
thing seems massive, making the large Vajra battleships around it seem tiny in
comparison. Alto sets his eyes with determination on the source of all of
this. The one who fanned the flames of the Vajra war, leading to all those
deaths. The one who used Sheryl and Ranka, taking advantage of their song
while destroying their spirits.
<"This is the end, Grace. We're coming for you.">
Unfortunately, the path forward is not entirely clear as the Vajra
clash against the Frontier Defense Forces around Alto.
'The wind shakes the horizon...'
'Do the flames still burn?'
Ranka and Sheryl's voices flow into Alto like a familiar warmth, the
fold quartz earring on his ear beginning to glow. The four high grade fold
quartz built into the YF-29 Sentinel's systems respond, resonating with the
first. The Sentinel's engines flare brighter, the fighter accelerating faster
as Alto starts to twist and turn his machine through the battlefield. The
gunpod attached below starts to blast out beams of gold tinged with blue, each
shot piercing through a Vajra trying to go on the attack against the red and
white Valkyrie. A blue aura forms around the craft, light trailing behind it
as it dances through space.
'Trembling, we stand at the entrance to the world.'
'Trembling, we stand at the entrance to the world.'
A massive beam of light blasts outwards across space, unleashed by the
Queen. Alto is directly in its path, but he doesn't hesitate as he already
knows what he has to do. Focusing on the feelings of warmth of the song
radiating through him, Alto synchronizes with the fold quartz in his machine.
A fold portal opens up in front of the Sentinel and the craft dives into it,
just as the whirling torrent of energy reaches its location.
The Sentinel reappears some distance away beyond the edge of the
destructive energies. But while Alto had managed to avoid it, he could tell
from its course where it was truly heading. Quickly spinning his fighter, Alto
turns to look as the beam continues to carve through space and the Frontier
Fleet beyond. They can survive it, right? Right?
Alto's heart seems to stop...
And then he sees the energy blasting into and through the rapidly
swarming Vajra, until it finally dissipates short of destroying the fleet.
Alto lets out the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. It's hard to
believe... Why did the Vajra sacrifice themselves like that? But then, he
already knows the answer...
Ranka and Sheryl reached them with their song.
'Your wings are those of a Valkyria'
The Sentinel rushes forward again, starting to rapidly close in on the
Queen even as its barrier is enduring everyone's attacks. More Vajra fly in to
try and stop Alto's progress, but they fall to the shots from the Lucifer that
suddenly flies in to assist him. Alto looks up through the canopy at the other
pilot. Alto's still not sure what to think about Brera. How much of his
behaviour was programming? As a result, Alto is still scowling somewhat as he
says, <"Don't go and get yourself killed just yet, robot. There's still a lot
I have to pay you back for."> However, Alto's words have a slightly jovial
tone to them, so perhaps there's some possibility of the two of them getting
along in the future.
A remote one to be sure.
Meanwhile, another Vajra chasing Alto is taken out. This time by a
Light Soldier. A type you don't typically see in deep space battles. And while
Alto can't be sure (is it racist to say all Vajra look alike to him?) it does
make him wonder if that one used to be a certain green furball. Ugh, he's
going to have to get along with that one too, isn't he?
Regardless of where the help is coming from though, Alto appreciates it
nonetheless as he dives in towards the Queen, its fold distortion barrier
flaring under the attacks from the others. Leon says he has something which
might be able to help break the barrier. This gives Alto an idea. He replies,
<"Roger that, Siegfried 1. I might be able to give you a hand. Everyone, cover
us!">
As the Sentinel reaches the perimeter of that trans-spacial defense
field, it slows down and transforms into Battroid mode. It floats up to the
barrier, reaching with its hands stretched out and places them against it. The
barrier flares, threatening to rip the Sentinel apart.
'I'll don armor of light and soar through the sky
Valkyria: on wings of farewell'
As Alto's heart aligns with Sheryl's and Ranka's, new colours begin to
seep into the aura glowing around the Sentinel. Hues of green and pink swirl
around the existing blue, mixing more and more together until they are no
longer separate, a shimmering silver light shining around the Valkyrie.
That light begins to sink into the Queen's dimensional barrier,
tendrils of it spreading out from the point of contact, as if like cracks in a
window. Will this work? Will it be enough to overcome this massive monster's
defenses?
<Pose Tracker> Astarte Spalding-Monteiro has posed.
As the beam of light approaches, Algernon furiously turns at the controls,
veering the ship sharply to the side, away from the Battle Frontier and just
out of the beam's path. Astarte stands up as the ship realigns and the song
begins to weave its way through the battlefield, gently swaying onto her cane
to the rhythm. "As much as I prefer the oldies, there's certainly something to
this!"
"I've got some of their albums I can lend you, Captain!"
"Later, Tierney."
Alto's request comes over the radio, and Astarte responds by tossing
up her cane, catching it by the end, and pointing it towards the Vajra Queen.
"You got it, kid! I won't forgive you if you end up leaving those two pretty
ladies alone, after all. Everyone! Make sure nobody gets to them! Missiles on
their perimeter!" The One Fine Day's missile silos load up the last of their
payload, bringing everything they've got up into the vacuum and down in the
immediate perimeter of Alto and the others.
<Pose Tracker> Rose Tritten has posed.
The glowing blue wings of the trio of ZAKUs dance through the endless cosmos,
gliding and weaving through approaching hostile Vajra, met swiftly with
scything green bolts of hyper condensed energy as they smash their way through
the growing civil war. Ranka and Sheryl's song fills each one of the friends,
enticing their hearts to fight through one last battle for all of humanity,
natural and coordinator and everything between outside and around it alike.
Alto's request for support reaches their ears. "Form up on Saotome!" Rose
orders, "Whatever he's planning, let's get him back to Ranka and Sheryl!"
As Alto shoots towards the Vajra Queen, blue streaks slice in and out in front
of him, a rapid burst of micro missiles, axe swings or lance of red and blue
swatting Vajra after Vajra from his path. As Alto makes his final approach,
the blue bolts dance around him, their role in getting him to the barrier
complete.
"We'll be right behind you Saotome!" Rose radios. "Whatever you're doing, make
it work!"
<Pose Tracker> Leon Sakaki has posed.
The Skull Squadron roars through space as one unit, gunpods firing and missiles
launching. As the maidens' song begins, light begins to emerge from the YF-30,
the Fold Quartz inset in its airframe glowing and pulsing. Leon feels a
strange lightness start to fill him.
"Chibasong is climbing! Fold Dimension Resonator, charging!" Aisha reports. The
machine had already been handling amazingly, but with this? It's like nothing
Leon's ever felt. Dodging, spinning, transforming, it's all effortless. Leon
changes to Battroid and punches through a Heavy Soldier with a shot from the
Quantum Gunpod.
"Alright! It's working!" Leon exclaims. Vajra fly around the squad, joining their
side. "Vajra. . . we can do this! Skull 4, I'm with you!" Leon blasts a
Vajra and spins into Fighter mode before flying off to meet up with Alto's
Durandal. The two Fold systems pulse in response to each other, growing
stronger as they amplify Sheryl and Ranka's song.
"Skull 4! Siegfried 1! Go for it!" As Alto transforms to Battroid and starts
eating away at the barrier, Leon blasts in at full throttle.
"FDR system, set! Coooome on!" The Chronos slams into the Fold Barrier at top
speed, awash in the glow of songs.
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Kaminaga has posed.
The silver-and-red giant called Ultraman turns his attention to Ultraman Solis,
and...does not respond. A brief, piercing gaze, during which one might notice
a key difference between the two Giants of Light:
The newer Ultraman, slender and thin-limbed, has no Color Timer. His chest is
smooth other than the pattern of teal-gone-red over silver - and just a faint
hint of musculature, where the musculoskeletal system truly requires
inflection. He regards Solis for some several seconds. Then, he looks to the
side, at the massive beam of light crashing toward the Frontier. He doesn't
surge to intervene, and is rewarded for this patience when the Vajra leap to
the defense of the Little Queen.
The song rushes forth. Even Ultraman knows the power of Earth's song, and the
faint presence of teal within his patterns flushes to brighter, vibrant red.
He's already used a full-power Spacium-133 beam, but here in the starlight,
infused with the songs of mankind's courage and love, Ultraman will shine.
He holds out a hand, a whirling sawblade of starlight forming there, and then
his holds it high. His whole form pulses white for a moment, a shot of energy
racing from his toes to his hands and prompting the blade to grow even bigger.
Alto calls for everyone to provide cover.
Ultraman rears back and hurls it, the blade scattering into dozens of its own
size, weaving through the maze of humanity's forces and the Vajra defending
Ranka and Sheryl to crash fiercely against the Fused Queen's own tides,
sweeping to try and carve a path to the monolith monarch for Alto and his
team. If Humanity wishes to end this fight, Ultraman can help them. Ultraman
should help them.
The light inside him burns. Ultraman shall help them.
<Pose Tracker> Sagiri Sakurai has posed.
Oh, if only Amies Ernst could read the hearts/and-or codes of developing
artificial intelligence--!
As it stands, however, now is not the time nor place for her to enthuse over
the forging of the unlikeliest of bonds (because she's already got her hands
full with the shipping miracle of the Galactic Throuple--) because Grace
O'Connor is staking everything - potentially everything in existence - on
this clash. The Carriax is swift to follow behind Scorn and Rancor as the
drones sortie; at the lead, the Tyranado and the Gespenst cut in through the
swath of controlled Vajra. Beam Bayonet shots lance through the lesser Vajra
-- but firepower of this caliber just isn't going to cut it against those
far-too-adaptable shells anymore, and Sagiri knows it.
Within the cockpit, the Special Section 3 manager grits her teeth, pastel eyes
narrowing. Part of her feels bad now having to take the fight to these Vajra,
which is not something she ever thought she'd be feeling for what amounts to
space bugs. But as gross as she still finds them (which she DOES (okay they're
kind of adorable when they're young (oh GOD what is HAPPENING to her!!))),
well -- no one deserves to have their lives enthralled by someone as -rancid-
as Grace.
<"Hang in there, little guys--!"> Sagiri transmits, knowing full well the Vajra
can't really understand her.
<"We freed Sheryl and Ranka from that parasite manager, and we'll do the same
for you--!">
It's the sentiment that counts.
It's a declaration that doesn't take too long to bear fruit in the most
viscerally horrifying ways she could ever imagine. The Vajra Queen gathers an
unfathomable amount of energy - degrees to which even the -Carriax's-
sophisticated sensors designed to clock the outputs of the Quark Drive can't
even reasonably compute - and for a moment, all Sagiri sees and knows is a
blinding flash of terror. She knows exactly where that energy is being
directed.
<"Sheryl--!">
The Tyranado breaks formation from Rin's Gespenst for a moment, about to launch
itself towards the light. Sagiri knows she can't stop it. What can one machine
do against an onslaught of a scale that dwarfs it multitudes over? And yet --
off the Tyranado blazes, green optics flaring with a throb of Quark-fueled
light. Behind her, Rami braces, eyes shut tight butresolved.
There is a flash. And then--
<"... what...?">
<"... M-ma'am... I don't believe it. The Vajra, they -- they...">
Rami Amasaki had been taught from a very young age, in a world so very far away
from this one she now calls home, to fear the Vajra. They were the bogeyman
tales her parents would use to keep her in line. The literal bed bugs lurking
beneath her bed. Even as her world was torn apart by a war of its own making,
that fear never quite left her.
And yet, now...
<"... the Vajra saved them--!">
Gray eyes are wide; Rami covers her mouth with her hands. And she feels so many
things all at once as she watches all those Vajra sacrifice themselves for the
sake of the Frontier: shock, uncertainty, wariness, horror...
... but most of all, she feels relief, and guilt. Relief that her friends are
safe. And guilt...
<"Ranka and Sheryl -- I think... they're freeing them. Maybe they're returning
the favor. I guess we misjudged those bugs, huh, Rami?">
<"... y-yeah.">
... realizing it was never really the Vajra she should have been terrified of,
in the end.
Sagiri's emotions at the moment are not nearly so complex; more importantly,
they don't deter her from -acting-. As the song reaches a fever pitch, the
Tyranado sweeps back into formation with Rin's Gespenst. The Carriax behind
them fires off the long-barreled payload of the Magna Beam Launcher, caught
smoothly in the still-functioning grasp of the VTX's flagship prototype, as
the ebb of Quark energies flux through it.
<"We're professionals, my precious part timer. That means, crescendo or climax
or breakdown or even an endless encore--">
The Tyranado turns. There's still so many Vajra left in Grace's thrall. She
hates to think of having to attack them, knowing that they're just being
controlled by that devious woman. But--
<"--we cover our client's asses until the bitter end!">
-- nothing's going to get in her way now.
<"Rin! Back to back!">
And with that -- the Tyranado shifts, pressing to the back of the Gespenst
beside it. She hopes - trusts - Rin will be able to follow her cues as the
thrusters of the Tyranado ignites to send it into a sudden pirhouette through
space, hopefully with the Gespenst in tow, firing a powerful beam of spinning
energies from that Magna Beam Launcher to carve through swaths of Vajra
swarming towards Alto and Leon as they contend with the Distortion Barrier --
that very thing that helped enable the tragedy of Junius. Can they really--
And it's just as doubts start to gnaw at her that, Sagiri blinks as she feels
Ranka and Sheryl's song swell in her soul. And despite herself -- the manager
of Special Section 3 laughs, a light igniting in green eyes.
<"Lady, you need to learn to take the damn hint! This isn't your song--">
No. Not this time. If it takes her everything she has--
<"--and you sure as hell don't get to have the pleasure of this dance!">
-- they're NOT failing today.
<Pose Tracker> Flay Allster has posed.
Whether it's for Grace's own good or not, the fact remains that they need to
stop her, no matter what. As she promises to make their deaths quick and
painless, Flay's eyes narrow. "Don't smile like that. It's creepy!" Is the
only response she can offer, before she notices the light building up within
the Vajra Queen - looking on in horror as that massive beam pierces out
towards the Battle Frontier, their last line of defense...
Only to be met by the will of thousands of Vajra, laying down their very lives
for their two queens. Just the same, hundreds of little dots representing them
flicker out from the Strike's targeting screen. "...What? The Vajra protected
us... but why?" Up until now, thanks to Grace's machinations, the only way
they've been able to communicate is by killing each other - and yet, once
Sheryl and Ranka broadcast their song through the battlefield, she thinks she
understands.
Despite the sacrifices of the Vajra, the two songstresses continue singing
their hearts out... resonating with each and every heart on the battlefield in
turn. Earlier, Flay thought their love to be so utterly shameless, but right
now... there's a certain warmth to it, and in that warmth, Flay finds
strength. Within the wings of that song, the Aile Striker pack's thrusters
flare, and the Perfect Strike dances through space, towards that barrier Grace
is hiding herself behind.
Alto and Leon have a plan... and if all they need to crack that barrier is Song
Energy, well, they're lucky enough to have plenty on their side. "I'll back
you up, too! ...But you'd better make it back to them, got that, Saotome?" The
Perfect Strike aims the Agni, tracking for even the slightest weakness in the
Distortion Field, firing off a massive red and blue lance of energy - powerful
enough to melt a hole in a colony, but will it be enough?
<Pose Tracker> Ren Takeda has posed.
The differences are noted. Extremely so. Further, there is no Star Brand like
what Solis has on his brow. The design is entirely too different. Solis is
more muscular, physically stronger. And blue. Noting the other Ultra's
differences, and perhaps a bit curious the blue giant starts to send another
telepathic message.
Noting where the other Ultraman looks, Solis turns his gaze as well. Inwardly,
Ren hears the song over the communication still in his ear.
Counters race through his mind. Beam? No, this one is too big. Shield? It would
shatter.%
And then the Vajra surge into place. Defending.
While Solis may not be able to be empowered by song, he too, can put pressure
on the overtaken Queen. Following the other's lead in a way, Solis brings his
closed fists together before spreading them apart. A wide crescent of white
energy appearing before he launches it at the Queen's barrier, aiming for the
cracks being generated as he works to help break through.
<Pose Tracker> Rin Naujakaite has posed.
Of course, just as they set out, an enormous energy blast is fired at the
Macross Frontier. Rin -- to say nothing of the two other autonomous units --
is momentarily gobstopped by that. Rin's mouth parts slightly.
What can be done?
Revenge? But --
-- The Vajra.
Rin's code return panels for Rancor and Scorn momentarily scroll a series of
0A0A0A-0A0A0A-0A0A0A-0A0A0A-0A0A0A-0A0A0A-0A0A0A-0A0A0A-0A0A0A-0A0A0A-0A0A0A-0A
0A0A- as Rin herself laughs in surprise.
"-- yes, ma'am," she answers Sagiri with a grin in her voice even as her eyes
turn forwards. There is a strange luminosity around the barrier that separates
their hearts -- and perhaps also their powerful weapons systems -- from that
woman, the architect of this particular misfortune for Human and Vajra alike.
A luminosity as others open fire. Dialogue, heartfelt statements intermingled
with the technical chatter of the science of war.
And they're with her, aren't they? Rin feels a quiet warmth, as that voice,
those voices, come to her. Words with Sheryl. Sheltering Ranka. She helped to
bring things here, didn't she? Somehow it seems too enormous for pride, to see
them, hear them here and now.
So, she cracks a joke. "Can we get one of those fold dimension resonator
things?" Rin asks even as she turns her attention upwards, a command on her
lips -- and sees Scorn raising up already. "Hey!" she says. "No slacking! Dump
all your long-range stuff -- I don't think we'll need to hold it for later,"
Rin instructs Scorn.
Scorn needs no particular warning. A generous brace - perhaps ten, perhaps
twelve, it is hard to tell in the increasing chaos if you are counting with
your eyes and your forepaws rather than using clean, efficient digital
technology - of missiles streak off, undulating in the spaceways as they trail
glittering strands of rocket exhaust. Accelerating, accelerating, speeding on
to a glorious demise -- at the last moment they converge, each of them
centering on that bright glow.
You want to reinforce success, after all.
<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.
It isn't something Sheryl asked them to do. She's sure Ranka didn't
'ask' it of them either, implicitly or otherwise. But Sheryl's eyes widen as
she sees wave upon wave of Vajra sacrifice themselves to protect her and
Ranka--no, not just them. All the humans they came here loving and wanting to
protect. She doesn't let it interfere with her performance--she is a
professional, after all--but seeing it leaves a deep impact on her, even
besides the stab of pain in her gut as their pain is communicated to her via
their V-type microbes. She shoots Ranka a look as she clutches her gut, but...
They stand tall, together, and continue to sing. They continue to
convey their feelings to the alien race they've been struggling against for so
long--and they respond, finally, finally understanding through Ranka and
Sheryl's joined song that humans are individuals. That it matters if even a
single one dies. It isn't every single one of them--at least as many remain
under Grace's control via the Vajra Queen--but it's enough. It's more than
enough, right now.
Sheryl smiles in relief as she sees Brera fly past Alto, recovered and
seemingly having taken recent events to heart. The flier she has no way of
knowing is Ai-kun, Ranka's longtime little companion--but she knows it anyway.
She knows it in her gut, as it were.
~ * ~
On the other side of the battlefield, Grace bares her teeth from her
nest within the Vajra Queen's body. She hadn't expected that the two of them
would be able to take control of so many Vajra so quickly--enough to not just
spare them but all their little friends too.
As much as she'll never admit it, she can't help but feel some twisted
pride. That's her Fairy-9, reversing death and standing up to sing in the
face of ultimate despair. It might even be a little bit of love--but that's
too little, and too late.
"It is the end--for you, that is. You're just delaying the
inevitable!" she taunts Alto. It seems like he and the others have some kind
of plan in mind, but Grace is far too arrogant to think they could actually
take out a Vajra Queen's Fold Distortion Barrier, just the two of them (just
the two of Sheryl and Ranka). That's exactly the opening Leon and Alto will
need.
The One Fine Day and Team Tritten help make sure that opening happens
too, firing missiles upon missiles on the Vajra to encourage them away from
their perimeter, swinging axes at those that try to close in anyway. Ultraman
unleashes that starlight sawblade to buzz forth and force them to scatter or
get cut down. The Tyranado and the Gespenst('s drones) combine forces to blast
into the line of Vajra still fighting against them, however badly Rami might
feel about it.
"You really don't know how to quit, do you? Is this stupidity or
humanity's survival instincts? I'd admire it if it weren't so aggravating!"
For all the new tricks Alto seems to have picked up for the Sentinel,
though, Grace isn't truly worried yet. He might be able to fold hither and
yon on the battlefield, and he might be able to synchronize and resonate with
LQ and Fairy-9, but he's only one fighter--a mere speck of dust before the
Vajra Queen. Leon in the Chronos gathering that Song Energy and smashing into
the Distortion Barrier is a little more concerning, but it's still a matter of
scale. Even if the two of them able to exert pressure on a tiny piece of
it--maybe even enough to let themselves in--it's not like he can break the
entire Distortion Barrier and let the rest of the fleet in. As long as
that's still there, it really is just delaying the inevitable.
But Grace doesn't intend on ignoring it either. Not when they're
giving everyone else ideas, like the Perfect Strike firing that
colony-busting energy blast or Ultraman Solis launching that crescent of
energy. So while she doesn't unleash another super-blast like she had the
Vajra Queen do just a moment ago, she does unleash a massive rain of
smaller shots from the entirety of the Vajra still under her control to hail
down on the entirety of the human-allied fleets and Vajra. The Queen herself
rolls in space and lashes out her massive tail, approximately half of her
500km size; in its wake, space wind and debris hurtles forth among the energy
blasts to cover every inch of space that they aren't taking up themselves.
It's blast coverage of the highest scale possible in this particular
battlefield.
...but, unlike Alto, Grace has forgotten about that kabuki play she
took Sheryl to all those years ago to inspire her. In her self-absorbed
arrogance, she doesn't see how that inspiration can spread--until it does so
right before her eyes, however disconnected they are from the actual reality
she's monitoring.
~ * ~
After a necessary breather after the stress of those waves of Vajra
dying for them--a perfect time for an instrumental break--Sheryl narrows her
eyes as Grace insists on her megalomaniacal Queen routine. For all that they
may each be connected, only the worst of Grace's feelings come across.
"What do I now aim my eyes at?"
She'd been used and manipulated for years--her and Ranka both. But no
longer. Sharing a nod with Ranka, they resume their vocals to do their utmost
to pull more of the Vajra onto their side and undermine Grace's all-out
assault. And the more they sing, the more the Chronos amplifies their song,
and the more it's amplified, the more of the Vajra fleets come over to their
side...
"Who do your lips call to?"
And with more and more speed, those Vajra stop their hostilities
against the assembled forces of humanity. They might not be able to understand
what Sagiri says, but they are united by their desire to help Sheryl and
Ranka, aren't they? All of them are. As the Little Queens pour forth their
song like starlight, some of the converted Vajra break away from the masses.
They, along with those already freed, sweep up and around the Carriax, the
Battle Frontier, and the One Fine Day, flying in a swaying motion nearby
before buzzing away to rejoin the fight by grappling their own kind and
forcing them away, out of the way, out of the battle.
"With faith we'll meet again, we kept singing"
Is this... their way of answering humanity's feelings? They can't
comprehend the different feelings of each individual human--but now they
understand humans are individuals. That the Carriax is not the Battle
Frontier is not the One Fine Day. Just as Sagiri and Rami's feelings towards
them are changing, so too are the alien's attitudes.
"Until I atone for everything, offer up everything!"
<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.
Pay him back, huh? <"Hmph. You saved me, and more importantly, you saved Ranka.
Between that and how noisy Sheryl is about you--"> Brera smirks at Alto.
Playfully? Playfully?? <"--I'll make sure you get the chance to try.">
For all their differences, it's clear they have at least one thing in common:
the women they care about. However, it is perhaps fortunate that Ranka is too
much of a professional to stop singing in order to scold her brother in front
of everyone for calling Sheryl 'noisy' about a guy. Ozma Lee knows well, Ranka
is quite willing to take brothers to task.
Brera breaks off, before beginning his best efforts to cover Rin's drones (Did
Ranka request this herself? He's not saying). While he's no fold dimension
resonator, the Maulers on the Lucifer will do.
Grace taunts them, and every single one is a twist of the knife. She trusted
her. Her Mother trusted her. By all rights, Grace should be family-! To
Sheryl she is family! But you don't do what Grace has done to family. You
don't betray them and use them like this.
And as Sheryl's and her feelings intermingle- joining together as they sing:
the Vajra, more and more of them realize their two Queens need them. They're
shocked senseless by the idea of their Queen treating part of them like this -
but indeed, in their feelings of betrayal, the idea of manipulation.
They realize even their great mother of the Collective is themselves being
manipulated to betray them.
And just as they are often instruments to the feelings of that Queen who heads
the collective, in this moment, they become instruments of this idea to stop
this manipulator - to save the whole from this horrid fate.
More and more Vajra that were fighting the Macross Fleets break off, and Grace
at first feels them like a minor nuisance, bio-blasts skimming the distortion
field, missiles detonating against the field, surrounding Alto, never too
close - but always enough to assist him. Somehow the Vajra know not to slam
themselves bodily into it from Sheryl and Ranka's feelings directing them.
(Thanks Nadesico)
It is like a pesky swarm at first, mostly ineffectual even en masse, but racing
to add their efforts to overwhelm, trading shots with Vajra that still side
with their great Queen. And the VTX crew - no everyone, will realize more and
more that indeed, the Vajra were on their side all along.
"Your wings are those of a Valkyria
"Before the fallen soldier, a Valkyria
"Glides down, an illusory lover
"Here to ensure
"You don't melt into the blue of the sky!"
Until a Knight Class turns in orbit, and all cannons fire to streak down
towards the shield, raining fire upon it and clearing the field further for
Alto. Then a heavily damaged Bishop manages to turn to do the same, consuming
many of Grace's defenders in the crossfire.
Somehow, these Vajra, through Sheryl and Ranka just are coordinated to know not
to catch Variable Fighters and SAL ships in down below, as if acknowledging
the humans fighting the Queen as part of their own.
"Valkyria!
"The patchwork sorrow that a Valkyria
"Scooped up in both hands is the truth.
"I'll grip the seed we raised with pride in these ruins and head east--"
It is perhaps the best cover Alto could ever hope for. And indeed - a certain
ex-Green Furball weaves in and out towards Alto to fly just above his cockpit.
And his little bio-blaster on his head adds in little rapid fire bursts right
above Alto's point of impact. You're definitely wearing the 'get along' shirt
with Ai-kun and Brera after this, Alto.
<Pose Tracker> Alto Saotome has posed.
The Sentinel struggles against the sheer power of the gigantic field
protecting the Queen. For all the power he has been able to unlock from his
own machine, Alto is still limited by what he can do. Even with Sheryl and
Ranka supporting him.
Thankfully, he's not alone.
Leon's Chronos slams into the field nearby the Sentinel. Its own
energies put pressure on the barrier as well, hastening the apparent collapse.
The two Valkyries struggle against the dimensional field, their
combined efforts greatly weakening it. Yet it's still not enough!
The Perfect Strike joins in, releasing its massive beam in to increase
the pressure. Solis comes streaking in shortly afterwards, unleashing that
energy crescent to crash into the barrier too. Soon followed by a barrage of
missiles from Scorn. All the while, the Tritten Team, One Fine Day, Ultraman
and Tyranado provide cover against the swarms of Vajra trying to approach the
others and disrupt their attempts.
More... They need just a little bit more! One final push!
And that push comes from the Vajra themselves as they follow the
intentions of their new Queens. Many of the Vajra turn to focus on the same
general area of the field as Leon and Alto. From the smallest Light Soldier
(seriously Ai-kun you need to eat more) to the far larger Bishop class
asteroid fortresses, they unleash their firepower on the remaining hostile
Vajra as well as the weakening part of the field.
And as they do, the 'cracks' in the field rapidly expand outwards,
growing larger and more numerous. It starts to reach a point where light is
pouring out of the barrier. Until finally it can take no more, a burst of
supergravity blasting outwards and knocking everyone around the Queen
backwards.
Alto grunts as the gravity slams into him, sending his Sentinel
spinning backwards until he is able to recover from the tumble with some quick
thrusts. As he reorients back on the massive Queen, the light of the fading
dimensional break is still visible. But it's clear now that the barrier is
broken, <"Nice work! This is it, let's go!"">
The Sentinel transforms back into fighter mode, its engines brightening
as it shoots forward. It passes through the space where the barrier had been
moments ago and continues forward. As he closes in, Alto can't help but marvel
at the size of the Queen... It's massive. How are they going to defeat such a
massive thing? And without killing it in the process?
They've going to need a plan...
Until then though, Alto focuses on what he can do now, <"Let's see if
we can weaken it somehow!">
Alto gets missile locks across a number of the glowing protrusions
along the Queen's body. Destroying them will do something, right? The Sentinel
unleashes its barrage, smoke trails twirling through space and the few dozen
micro-missiles dance in to explode against their targets.
-=-=-=-=-
Whether it's Grace's control over the Vajra weakening, or Sheryl and
Ranka's singing reaching more of the Vajra, the numbers of those fighting
feverishly against the Frontier Fleet have drastically lowered. This has
caused their lines to crumble once more and this time there's no songstress on
the enemy side to restore them.
This opportunity doesn't go unnoticed by those leading the fleet. No
longer does it seem like this is a hopeless plan. So long as Grace can be
dealt with...
But those now in charge of leading the Frontier Fleet are setting their
sights on the future. Despite the reprehensible manner in which President
Mishima rose to power, his goals for the future of the fleet were not
necessarily bad ones. The Frontier Fleet is a colony fleet after all, having
set out to find habitable worlds to colonise. And there's one right in front
of them. The discussion amongst the admirals on the bridge of the Battle
Frontier is a lively one:
"This is our opportunity to break through! A new planet is right there!"
"What about the Vajra? Even if O'Connor is dealt with, there will still
be many of them left."
"With the power of Sheryl Nome and Ranka Lee, I suspect we won't have
anything to worry about in that regard. Besides, we've suffered many losses in
this fight so far, we can't just turn around with nothing to gain from those
deaths."
"If we can even turn around, much of the fleet is damaged. Pushing
forward may be our only option. Not to mention we no longer have a way of
folding out."
The last admiral's comment hits the hardest. Even if they did decide to
retreat, where would they go without fold drives? The discussion continues a
little more until finally a consensus is reached. The decision is made.
"All ships, press forward! We will proceed to land Island One onto the
planet!"
What remains of the Frontier Fleet accelerates forward, starting to
push through the battle lines as it makes its way towards low orbit. Many of
the smaller colony ships used as decoys have been damaged beyond functioning
and are left to float as wrecks. But the main Island One colony ship persists,
its pinpoint barriers glowing at the occasional attack that makes it through.
Nestled within the massive vessel, the roughly ten million inhabitants
of the fleet wait nervously within shelters, praying for this nightmare to
end. The only guiding hope is the song playing throughout the vessel.
<Pose Tracker> Astarte Spalding-Monteiro has posed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DW4-klReBQA
Astarte chuckles at Grace's complaints. "Young woman, in the last 20
years of my life, I've become increasingly talented at not dying. If the Zabis
couldn't kill me, if Neo-Zeon couldn't kill me, if Axis itself couldn't kill
me, I don't quite know what chance you think you have. Stupidity? Human will?
At least in my case, what you're dealing with..." She shows off to no one in
particular by twirling her cane and bringing it down on the floor of the
bridge with a loud clack. "...is a stubborn old bitch who needs to get home to
her son!"
"Captain!" Petra Jenais looks up from her radar screen. "The Vajra
are... fighting off their own!"
"We'll take it! We're almost there! Push forward and support the
fleet!"
The One Fine Day puts its thrusters at full power, flanking the fleet
ships and firing its turrets at anything that comes near.
<Pose Tracker> Rose Tritten has posed.
The ZAKUs of the Trittens are buffeted by the sudden present shift of gravity.
They marvel at the shattering barrier as they right themselves. Then, Alto
orders the attack in, and just as promised, the Tritten Trio are the first
ones in behind him, splitting off and whipping around the massive alien queen.
"How the heck are we gonna kill this thing?" Aspyn asked, monoeye shifting and
focusing around.
"I don't know, but we better think fast while she..it? Is on the backfoot!"
Sushila added.
Rose's eyes shifted back and forth rapidly. What the heck could they do?
Luckily, Alto provides at least somewhat of an idea, as micro missiles start
to impact the glowing protrusions.
"...Screw it, video game logic time, hit the glowing bits!" Rose orders.
The Terrible Tritten Trio zoom in on one of the bigger ones in a rapidly moving
single line. Aspyn strikes first, rending the blade head across the length of
it, before Rose swiftly jammed the remaining grenades on her ZAKU's hips in
the open wound, and cleared the firing line just in time for Sushila to fire
off a full strength lance deep inside of it! A massive explosion backdrops the
trio as the fly off to find another juicy target on the thrashing monster!
<Pose Tracker> Leon Sakaki has posed.
The Chronos pushes with all its might, but it's still not enough. Lightning
crackles around the fighter, sparks flying in the cockpit.
"A little more, a little more, a LITTLE MORE!" The Vajra come to their rescue
once more, chipping away at the barrier.
"Alright! Together, everyone! LET'S GOOOOO!!" The distortion field cracks as
light blooms out, and finally, Leon breaks through, sending a gravity
shockwave behind him in a burst of orange light.
When Alto catches back up, Leon gives him a salute, cockpit to cockpit. "Right,
Skull 4- Alto! Let's finish this!"
The Sentinel (with its, frankly absurd amount of engines) rockets forwards, and
Leon opens his afterburners to catch up. "Let's finish this!"
The two close in on the Queen, and like Alto, Leon is awestruck by its size.
You sure don't see things like this on Sephira.
"I'm with you! It can't take missiles forever!" The YF-30's container pod
springs up, unleashing a payload of missiles that streak into space with
trails of light and detonate on the Queen's glowing weak points.
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Kaminaga has posed.
Telepathy...he should be able to hear it right? Even if he doesn't, by some
strange happenstance, speak the seemingly multiverse-spanning language of the
Ultra, he surely has thoughts.
But for now, he focuses on the battle rather than assuring or communicating
with Ultraman Solis. Perhaps this is simply his personality.
He surges, then, as the tail's impossible blastwave ripples along the fold
lines of space - spinning around his hip axis like a top the wrong way round
until he turns into a silver-red plate of color, swirling around the distance.
Any Vajra impact that slams into that surface pings off, like the rotational
energy were its own perfect shield, devouring forces and redirecting them
harmlessly. The force of the Vajra Queen's tail-whip ultimately does force him
away, spinning kilometers off through the darkness; but he recovers, soon
enough.
Seconds later, his whole form surges anew with starlight, devouring the energy
within him; the red pattern turns to blazing internal white, and then he
strikes a cross-armed pose and a stream of scratching light crashes across the
distance, phenomenal stellar forces brought to bear on the Fused Queen and the
distortion field.
<Pose Tracker> Sagiri Sakurai has posed.
They're doing it. They're doing it--!
Alto and Leon, whatever they're doing - seriously again don't ask Sagiri,
whenever she thinks of Fold Quartz she just thinks of the power of
intergalactic shipping routes - it's having an effect! The Distortion Barrier
is cracking. It's breaking. And--
--and more than that, Sheryl and Ranka's song -- the Queens' call is stirring
the not-quite-collective hearts of the Vajra as more and more break free from
their false majesty's thrall. Their song -- it's reaching out to all of
them. Emboldening them. Connecting them--
Within the Carriax, Meryl reflexively flinches backward with a yelp as those
Vajra encircle the Carriax. Amies' eyes widen, and yet --
"Meryl -- it's okay," begins the bespectacled analyst. "These movements... I'm
not picking up any out of the ordinary power spikes. They're not aggressing."
That impressive forehead of Amies' furrows in consternation as she considers
the implications.
"It's almost like..."
"They're trying to communicate with us."
Hirosuke Amasaki leans back in the captain's chair. Behind his sunglasses, his
eyes narrow in quiet thought. Ever-the-levelheaded source of calm, the Chief
of Special Section 3 has been at this a long time. Long enough to recognize
when someone is trying to communicate, without being able to use a
conventional voice to do so.
"I believe they're trying to tell us they have our backs."
... Long enough to recognize a friend, rather than a foe.
"Maybe we should do the same for them. Right?"
Beside him, Amies bobs her head in an enthusiastic nod. Meryl, recovering from
her faux pas, straightens out her hair and lets out a long-suffering sigh.
"I -suppose-. I wouldn't want to ruin the mood. The manager would never let me
hear the end of it. I swear that woman just coasts on vibes--"
Maybe you don't need words to communicate.
~ $ ~
"Achoo! -- Ah, damn. That's my Meryl sneeze. Is Meryl tarnishing my sterling
reputation again--?"
"... Ma'am, there's no way that's a thing, how could you --"
"Don't get distracted, Rami! We've gotta keep our eyes on the prize!"
Things are taking a turn.
And Sagiri Sakurai, as she so often does, just coasts on the vibes.
At least it means she recognizes a sea change when she sees one!
The barrel of the Magna Beam Launcher is still flickering with dying,
phantasmal light after that prolonged volley lapses. Settled close to the
Gespenst, Sagiri frowns as she looks over the haze of ruined Vajra left in
their wake. She can't even imagine how that must feel for the other Vajra
fighting with them -- to have to fight against what were essentially
extensions of themselves, up until barely a few moments ago. It puts a lot of
things into perspective.
... But if the Vajra are still fighting for them, despite all that... how can
Sagiri stand to do any less? After all--
Her professional pride is on the line here!
<"Ma'am, Rin -- the Distortion Barrier seems to be collapsing!"> Rami suddenly
calls out over the comms. <"The Valkyries are making an opening, at least. If
we move now--">
Sagiri's eyes narrow. She grips the controls of the Tyranado.
<"Say no more, Rami. Carriax! I'm making a special order -- two extra special
helpings of Mega Buster Strikers!">
<"Two? But I'm not sure the Quark Drive can handle--">
<"It's fine! For the sake of our clients, and the people of the Frontier, and
for my favorite place of business called Earth -- this lean mean fighting
machine can hack it! Isn't that right, Rami~?">
Rami blinks. But her expression soon brightens, nodding enthusiastically.
<"I'll make sure of it!">
<"Then what're we waiting for? I'm sending you coordinates, Meryl -- launch the
Strikers there! Rin--">
<"-- How d'you feel about getting your hands on some big guns~?">
--
look-- this is a serious situation but Sagiri --
she is what she is.
And what Sagiri is now, most of all, is determined. It is writ large on her
face as the Tyranado -punches- through that opening; as it weaves through
Vajra and missile fire courtesy of the Carriax as it clears them a path; as
she tears a path straight for that incomprehensibly large entity Grace has
taken over in the distance, so large she now knows what it means to be less
than a speck in an indifferent cosmos.
And yet.
And -yet-.
The Tyranado still charges right at it.
Behind it, the Carriax fires off two oblong, shiny-white egg-shaped cannons.
One for the Tyranado--
And another, for Rin and her Gespenst.
<"What can I say, 'your majesty'?"> Sagiri begins, the honorific dripping with
her most abrasive levels of sarcasm.
<"If I can go out being the fly in the ointment to your oh-so grand coronation
-- hell, I'll consider that a life more than well lived! That's my resolve as
a manager of VTX! As the unbelievably proud backer of Sheryl Nome!">
<"Do you think you even have a snowball's chance in hell measuring up to
that?!">
<Pose Tracker> Rin Naujakaite has posed.
They're firing, but they're not firing at us, Rin thinks, as her eyes saccade
around the battlefield. For a moment it occurs to her: How horrible this must
be for the Vajra!
She has spent quite a lot of time in space, after all.
The others are closing the distance. The way is opening. They can get through --
-- because Rin, lbr, had figured their hope would be to mutilate enough stuff
that the Queen could be destroyed with, like, two hundred N2 bombs or
something, or that Grace would give up on Earth and before she could hassle
some other society they could find her and disable her.
But it does not seem that this is a standstill, nor a draw, nor a temporary
victory in an uncertain future. Thanks to Sheryl, thanks to Ranka, *they have
allies now*. Perhaps only for today - Vajra and Human may be too different to
live in closeness, just from their tastes and habits and preferences for
things like 'pressurized atmospheres.'
But who knows?
"Oh, ma'am, if you think this is annoying, you haven't even seen me get
started," Rin snaps back to Grace, among a number of other people doing the
same. It's not her best diss, but then, she has to do her best *flying* right
now... one of the surviving Grace-affiliated Vajra fires a blast that dings
Rancor, making the beast growl:
-=-=-=-
"Fah! I could slay it now. Rip the flesh of the worldbeast asunder and find
her, the traitor queen. Saved a half of the skalds, I have; to end the plague
of the other would be meet."
"No."
"No? Are you filled with cowardice now, brother?"
"The cowardice is to imperil thyself for nothing, my dear fool. You were right,
and I spoke ill. Will you trust your own council?"
"Hah!"
-=-=-=-=-
Which makes Rin glance to the side for a moment, before there's another
transmission. No, a prepared *shipment*. "Love too get new gun," Rin answers
Sagiri, before more information flips through. Her eyes flick - flick again -
the Carriax sends its hope and dreams in the form of an egg-shaped cannon --
and Rin speaks...
To her bird.
"You know, there's one of the techniques we never had the chance to use,
Scorn," Rin says as she positions herself, transferring the Launcher to a
magnetic clamp in case she wants it later and/or doesn't want to be billed for
it.
>?????? from the avian drone.
"The ultra-precision shooting," Rin says.
>FFFFFF
"Execute op code Paikton Nomos," Rin says, as if it was a magic spell. Maybe it
is. The Gespenst positions itself to receive and lock in the weapon, even as
Scorn just... drifts to the side...? Until Rin sees a monitor feed from
Scorn's position through micro-band direct beam linkage. She swivels that
monitor off its latch and holds it up in front of her helmet, maneuvering it
for a second or two (subjective) before letting her eyes unfocus slightly.
"... This feels weird," Rin comments, several seconds after the
ultra-wide-parallax view begins to actually 'pop' for her, but it's an aside.
Vitals are all stable. If anything, her heart rate and stress levels just went
down a couple of points. Ultra-parallax space viewing, the next relaxation
trend?!
<Pose Tracker> Ren Takeda has posed.
A shockwave pushing back his giant form is unexpected. The super gravity wave
sends Ultraman Solis tumbling before he rights himself.
The daring plan is heard by Ren inside of Ultraman Solis. Watching the fight,
he looks away briefly, eyes scanning as they glow a bright yellow before he
turns back towards the corrupted Queen.
There is a moment when Ren almost turns to protect the colony. But then he
realizes that the Vajra have that covered. And by then, he sees the blow his
fellow Giant of Light has started.
And he's not about to be left out of that one. Solis flies forward to get in
better range, crossing his arms defensively in front of himself as he flies
forward. A more precision beam fires off from the star shape on his brow at
the "glowing spots" as someone of the communications called it. The beam
follows his gaze as he rakes it again and again over the targets he has.
<Pose Tracker> Flay Allster has posed.
Grace's counterattack through the Vajra Queen rocks the battlefield, and the
Perfect Strike is no exception. Flay raises the Gundam's shields to guard
itself from the hailstorm of beams fired from the Vajra Queen, and even after
weathering that, debris rumbles and slams across the assorted ships and
mobile weapons. The Strike's cockpit shakes from the impact, but the Variable
Phase Shift Armour does its job in protecting it from harm.
"Right... even the Vajra would hate this. So maybe there is a chance..." Flay
mutters, as the Vajra break free and turn against the 'Benevolent Queen',
helping them tear through the opening they needed against the distortion
field. "But now what are we supposed to do?!" Pushing through the barrier was
one thing, but even with the Vajra on their side, even with Sheryl and Ranka
singing for them, how can they even make a dent against 500km?
"You know, if the rest of the Vajra can hear us... it'd be a whole lot easier
if the Queen could just listen too, right?" Unfortunately, as long as Grace is
in control, it seems like that's not happening - so they'll just have to hold
out a little longer. So for now... they'll just have to trust their newfound
allies.
The Agni was effective enough against the barrier, but the fatal flaw of this
multi-pack configuration is that it burns energy far faster than a non-nuclear
engine allows for - so the cannon needs precious time they don't have right
now to recharge. "Down to the last battery already? This plan had better be
enough!" Instead - with some annoyance - Flay opts for her beam boomerangs,
and the Perfect Strike sends a pair of blades of light soaring through space
to carve through the glowing protrusions of the Vajra Queen - and back.
<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.
"You are so dearly,"
More and more of the Vajra fall away from Grace's control, either
because of the Wings of Farewell, or because their fellow Vajra counter
them--but there are still some, and they stubbornly refuse to change over for
some reason. The One Fine Day's defensive fire ensures nothing comes near the
Battle Frontier, at least, which counts for a hell of a lot right now. What
counts for even more is the Carriax recognizing the communication the allied
Vajra try to make.
Just as the feelings have humanity have reached them, the Vajra's
feelings have reached them back. They may be unbelievably different in a
countless number of ways, but in this, they are united. The Carriax defends
them, and they defend it in turn, even moreso than the other ships and
fighters on the field beyond the Battle Frontier where the Little Queens are.
As newly forged friends.
It is horrible for them, as Rin observes. But this is how they can
atone for all the bloody, violent misunderstandings up until now.
"dearly beloved,"
When Leon Sakaki comes in to join Alto's efforts and, together with the
Vajra now under Ranka and Sheryl's control (no--responding to their combined
feelings), magnifies them a millionfold with the power of the YF-30 Chronos to
outright shatter the Distortion Field, Grace gawks. "Wha--?!" This is a
miscalculation on her part; her finding the SMS so beneath her notice after
their departure that she failed to take into account their experimental new
Variable Fighter and its bleeding-edge technology... including the technology
to break through Distortion Barriers.
It's a cascade effect. The cracks splinter outwards from the point of
impact, faster and faster and faster, until the entire thing simply
shatters. Grace is not visible from her nest within the Vajra Queen's
body, but the look of shock on her face would no doubt be very satisfying if
she were.
It soon twists into rage. "Stubborn old bitch is right!!" she snaps at
Astarte. It only intensifies at Sagiri's taunting. "Shut up, shut up, shut
UP!! Do you have any idea how ANNOYING you are?!" Rin snappily retorts she's
seen nothing yet, and maybe that's what pushes Grace to continue, "Sheryl
this, Sheryl that--I raised her! I made her what she is today! And you
think you can waltz in at the end and claim the credit?!"
That sure is an interesting thing to say after all the masterminding
and manipulating she's done. As if realizing this herself, Grace bites off
what she wants to say next and forces calm back into her voice. "But no. I
should thank you all, really. Now that you've revealed you can counter my
barrier--I can make sure to crush you right here and now!!"
...it's a calm that doesn't last.
"and so crystal clear!"
The luminous parts of the Vajra Queen's body are indeed easy targets.
As Alto's missiles, Leon's extra missiles, Team Tritten's combo attack,
Ultraman and Ultraman Solis's combined cross-armed starlight beams, the
Perfect Strike's Beam Boomerangs, the Tyranado and Gespent's brand-new Striker
Cannons--each strike a different glowing protrusion, she thrashes in apparent
pain. But while they do seem to have an effect--she's still so enormous,
as Flay pointed out, and more than capable of defending herself. The many
glowing protrusions that remain flare with light, then unleash energy blasts
in return. They aren't nearly as enormous as that initial blast Grace had the
Queen unleash, but they don't need to be. Each blast is easily able to consume
any fighters that come near. If they want to win the day, just attacking won't
be enough.
On top of that, the last of the Vajra forces still under Grace's
control lock in on Leon and swarm his and Alto's way, set on bodying the two
of them to death. It's a bad thing--but it's also a good thing. It means when
Frontier's Island-1 begins its emergency descent to the surface of the Vajra
homeworld, Grace doesn't care enough to stop it. There's a much bigger threat
present, and she needs to nip it in the bud; she can destroy the Frontier
fleet later at her leisure once that's done.
"Valkyria,"
For the same reason, none of the remaining Benevolent Queen Vajra
attack any of the other ships or fighters present, so focused are they on
taking out the Sentinel and the Chronos. This means that they're open to be
countered by just about everyone else. But...
"Ahhh..."
...maybe there's a better way.
<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.
Even now, Grace is claiming credit for who Sheryl is now- and beside her
Sheryl might feel both her outrage, and her sympathy to Sheryl. But also the
certainty... that Sheryl is far far more today than whatever Grace made of
her.
<"How noisy can those drones get?"> Brera grouses, flatly at the chattiness of
Rin's drones over his electronic feed.
As the distortion field shatters under the assault, Ranka feels her heart soar.
They can do this! Grace isn't as all powerful as she's making herself out to
be. It's far too easy to get crushed by the idea she is, knowing the role she
took in hurting Sheryl, hurting her - how she's been an ever present force in
her life ever since her childhood.
And as a result of the field breaking she feels something beyond, as they begin
their assault on Grace herself... Ranka can feel something behind it all. In
the intermingled waves of Grace and the Queen, it's easy enough to lose
yourself in the idea that Grace and her are one.
It's the tiniest most minute fluctuation on the instruments, the standard
deviation that Grace would write off as insignificant. Ranka feels the
discord between wills. The resistance that's not strong enough to throw her
off in the notes of the Queen's song.
"Here to guide their soul over the rainbow: Valkyria!"
Even as Sheryl and her continue to sing, everyone hears something more direct,
a communion with all of them.
I can feel the Queen trying to fight her. She's just not able to.
Grace did something
And as Ai-kun sweeps over weaving in and out as an arc, his eyes become a
softer red, as she sees through them, at a metallic protrusion that is
decisively technological, sticking out of the carapace.
There! The back of her neck!
There is no interruption to the song, as Ranka presses a palm to one of
Sheryl's, and comes closer to her, in this space not needing to stand on her
tiptoes to be nearly cheek to cheek, as their feelings surround all of them...
"(The blue storm of time
"Sweeps past me and strikes my cheek
"Always and forever, I love you, I love you...)"
but perhaps one more than the rest. More and more of the Vajra join in,
crashing against Grace's forces, as if trying to give them all the opening
they require. A Super Heavy glides around Leon's VF-30 to grapple with
another soldier, while a whole swarm of Light Fliers bears more Vajra away
from the Carriax through sheer overwhelming force of numbers.
"Valkyria...
"Valkyria..."
The universe is warm, and it is filled with music. This is the truth the Vajra
knew, and this is the truth they convey to all of them, a rejection of Grace's
cold and clinical solution to the human condition.
<Pose Tracker> Alto Saotome has posed.
As Grace seems to turn her gaze specifically onto him and Leon, Alto
swears he can feel the pressure of it. Or perhaps that's the feeling he's
getting from all the alarms in his cockpit alerting him to the Vajra on
approach.
One moment of hesitation and he is dead.
<"Stay alive, Leon!">
Alto pushes the throttle hard, taking the Sentinel in close to the
Queen's massive body. He skirts along close to the creature's surface, using
it as a shield at times to limit the vectors of the approaching Vajra.
Bio-missiles come streaking in to chase Alto, some exploding against their own
Queen. Others are taken out by the Sentinel's beam turret which pops out and
spins around to fire quick blasts into the approaching swarms of explosives.
A number of Vajra rush in, trying to close the distance in order to
kamikaze themselves into the Valkyrie. But a portal suddenly opens in front of
it, the Sentinel diving in and reappearing behind the Vajra. Its machine guns
rip into them, tearing them apart before the Sentinel accelerates forward as
it continues to spiral its way around the Queen, a trail of silver light
following behind it.
As he rises higher and higher up along the Queen's body, Alto asks,
<"Why the hell are you doing this, Grace!? What could drive you to this
madness?">
It's at that point that Alto can feel Ranka's intention. An implant? Is
that how she was able to contend with the consciousness of such an immense
being? Alto has no idea what's going on inside the Vajra Queen right now...
But from Ranka's feelings, it seems there's still a part of the real one in
there.
Which means they have a plan now!
The Sentinel transforms into GERWALK momentarily, spinning around and
bringing its gunpod up to snap off several shots towards the Vajra chasing it.
Before it completes the spin and transforms back into fighter mode, blasting
forward up the Queen's back. Passing by the massive, glowing crystalline
wings, Alto finally curves around towards the creature's long neck and spots
it.
Sure enough, a device embedded into it. It looks heavily armored... But
if they can break it!
<"Target identified. Take it out!">
As more of the friendly Vajra join in to reduce the pressure on those
fighting Queen Grace, Alto is able to focus on taking out the implant. The
Sentinel dives in, turning all the weapons it has on the device.
Micro-missiles blast out of launch bays, while the turret on the top of the
VF's frame rises up and starts to unleash repeated bolts of energy. The beam
gunpod slung below the fighter joins in with the turret, while the machine
guns embedded in the wings spit out a rapid stream of MDE tipped bullets.
<Pose Tracker> Astarte Spalding-Monteiro has posed.
"I sure wish you were on my radio so I could stop hearing you.
Someone's mother never taught them to act right." Astarte turns and sits back
down in her seat, crossing her legs. "Keep on course. SMS has got it handled.
Tritten Team, provide assistance. All shipboard, continue to assist the
Frontier Fleet."
As the One Fine Day continues to provide cover fire for the fleet
ships, she closes her eyes, softly humming to the music and drumming her
fingers on the armrest.
<Pose Tracker> Rose Tritten has posed.
The targeting link pops up on each of the Tritten's HUD's as Captain Astarte's
order calls out over the radio.
"We're on it Captain!" Rose called out as the trio slid into position. From the
back of it's hip armour, Sushila's ZAKU retrieved its reserve Beam Machinegun
and tossed it to Rose as Aspyn retrieved her own. The two beam gatlings on
Aspyn's shoulders lowered and shifted as Rose's missile pods slid open. As
one, the trio unleashed everything they had on nape of the Vajra Queen,
keeping triggers held down until battery packs ran dry.
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Kaminaga has posed.
A fully-charged Spacium-133 Beam is a marvelous thing to behold, a cannon-shot
that could blow the top off a mountain or shred a more normal-sized kaiju. But
against a beast like the fused Vajra Queen Grace, it's just a drop in a
massive bucket. Fortunately, there are many such drops coming, blowing open
many of her defenses. But not all.
Blasts of light come from the silver Ultraman, who throws his arms up - a pane
like glass blown from stardust appears in front of him, bolts of light
smashing into it and bouncing off, then again and again, until even that
energy-matter starts to crumble. But it lasts long enough to throw off the
barrage, and then Ultraman charges again.
Again, he speaks nothing. Not Ultranese, not grunting, not roaring. If
anything, he behaves more like the vajra now are - moving to use his
tremendous body to force aside Vajra interceptors as gently as possible. He
holds up a fist and then throws his hand forth, rings of light rushing out to
capture one of the more massive Vajra and then just...gently tow it out of the
way of the rushing human forces. Ultraman can, perhaps, act with the surgical
precision Alto now works with, but for one of his scale, using his great might
to simply hold the maddened loyalists of the fused queen down is the more
useful act.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Sakaki has posed.
"YACK! Dantz can Zentrans!" Aisha shouts in excitement in her native tongue as
Leon smashes through the barrier.
"Take that! That's my beautiful Chronos!" Aisha is fistpumping the air. "You're
no match for a real genius, O'Connor! Leon, go get her! That's an order!"
"Y-yes ma'am!" That's easier said than done, as the closer they get to the
Queen.
"Doing my best, Skull 4!" Leon flits through friend and foe Vajra by the skin
of his teeth, weaving through the chaos and barely dodging Grace's barrage,
searing more paint off his wings.
"Sorry, but I'm not getting shot down this time! I've got Aisha's masterpiece
with me!" Leon gapes at Alto's little teleporting stunt - it's a good thing
that he doesn't have to tangle with the Sentinel again. As much faith as he
has in Aisha's work, he doesn't think he can match up to that.
Ranka's message comes clear and true over the Fold Wave system, and Leon nods
in understanding.
"I see it! Focusing fire!" The YF-30 flies opposite Alto, firing a
complementary full barrage.
"I've got my orders, and I'm taking you out, O'Connor!"
<Pose Tracker> Sagiri Sakurai has posed.
-That-. That got under her skin.
Sagiri can't help it: as the Striker discharges that blinding and furious swath
of destructive power that looks like barely a pinprick against the continental
carapace that is the Vajra Queen's hide... its pilot smiles a smug, satisfied
smile as Grace shouts at her. It feels good, getting under this woman's skin.
And yet... and YET...
I made her what she is today! And you think you can waltz in at the end
and claim the credit?!
That smile is instantly wiped away by an angry frown as Sagiri's expression
darkens.
<"... You...">
Energy roars from the Vajra Queen and her innumerable biological weaponry. The
Tyranado weaves through as best it can -- but energy sparks in volatile
patterns along its frame as the Quark Drive starts to output more and more
energy to fuel not just the Tyranado's Striker, but - somehow - the
Gespenst's too.
Rami's eyes widen.
<"Ma'am--">
It's too much. Too much for the frame of the Tyranado as it exists to handle.
An overload in the Quark Drive leads to a localized explosion in one of its
limbs, sending it veering off course. A blast of energy -rips- through the VTX
weapon, sheering through the left side of its body; just a graze alone is
enough to incinerate its arm, to melt its leg down to a sparking stump, to
send warnings blaring noisily throughout the entirety of the Tyranado as it is
sent into a violent spiral, knocking its pilots back and forth in the
turbulence.
In the aftermath, the Tyranado stands, but barely, clinging to its Striker,
sparks sputtering from its half-ruined frame. Within the cockpit, Sagiri
lurches forward, blood dripping down the side of her face from a wound
sustained in the violent backlash. Silence reigns.
"Ma'am... ma'am, please..."
And yet...
<"... y-you...">
And YET...
<"... you... are the worst manager... I've met in my entire life.">
Sagiri rises back up. Blood drools down into her left eye; she ignores it. Her
grip on the controls of the Tyranado remain fast, even as behind her, Rami's
expression mixes a cocktail of open relief and naked concern.
"Oh, thank god -- ma'am, please! The Quark Drive -- its outputting at levels
I've never seen before. The Tyranado can't sustain this, especially not now.
We have to--"
And yet... despite Rami's concern? Somehow, it all just evaporates away as
Sagiri turns around to face her, reaches out--
"Rami."
--and places a hand gently on top of the younger woman's head.
"It's okay." Sagiri Sakurai's smile is a warm thing. The kind of thing that
makes you think you can take on the world, in spite of all obvious evidence to
the contrary.
"I've got a promise I need to keep. I promise -- I'll keep you safe, no matter
what. But until then... can you help keep me safe, too?"
Rami blinks, a pink flush on her cheeks. And despite everything --
"... Okay. I'll keep you -- I'll keep US safe, ma'am. I promise -- until the
bitter end!"
-- she finds it in herself to defy all obvious evidence and logic.
Sagiri's smile turns lopsided and haphazard in the face of it, her eyes
squeezing shut.
"And now I know I can do it."
The Tyranado groans to life. Its thrusters ignite.
<"Hey, Gracie! I've got breaking news for you, you shitty manager!">
And it LAUNCHES forward, Quark Drive propelling it forth with nonsensical speed
toward the monolithic frame of the Vajra Queen in what, by all accounts, looks
like a suicide rush.
<"Maybe you're the one who discovered Sheryl, but you're not the one who gave
her the strength to persevere, even through the hardest times! Not anymore!">
Energy blasts come; the Tyranado races through them on a blazing path, even as
the information of that implant reaches Sagiri's console.
<"It wasn't you who refused to give up, even when everything seemed hopeless!
It wasn't you who connected millions of people with her song -- it wasn't you
who had that stubborn, devil-may-care will to go after the things she wanted
in life without regret, even when she didn't know if she'd see tomorrow!">
It jukes through stationary and mobile Vajra, straight towards the heart of the
enemy itself. Its Striker barrel hisses open as it advances.
<"It wasn't you who connected millions of people with her song -- it wasn't you
who had that stubborn, devil-may-care will to go after the things she wanted
in life without regret, even when she didn't know if she'd see tomorrow!">
And ignites.
<"What Sheryl is today -- it's not anything you OR I can claim credit for! It's
-her-! You're just the one who saw a beautiful star and tried - and FAILED -
to smother it!">
Phantasmal green-blue energy rips from the Strike's barrel -- and then hones
itself down, into a great, churning blade of energy, jutting from the barrel
of the cannon like a tremendous lance tip.
Eyes narrowing, Sagiri RUSHES the Tyranado in towards the mayhem as the
Sentinel unloads a furious onslaught upon that implant.
<"A good manager doesn't steal the light of the people around her -- she
nurtures it! She helps it grow bigger than she ever could have hoped This
moment isn't yours, and it isn't mine -- it's Ranka's, and Sheryl's, and
everyone who believes in them! They're so much more than the 'mere tools' you
saw them as, and they're proving that to you, RIGHT NOW!">
The Striker's lance swings up as it rears its arm back--
<"So as a GOOD manager-- the least I can do is fulfill one last promise!">
-- and SURGES forward.
As the Tyranado looks to literally PUNCH the Vajra Queen with its Striker,
aimed right for that implant, pouring everything it has into that one moment.
It's not meant to do this. It's never been built to do something like this,
and certainly not at this scale, and that proves out as that Striker just
EXPLODES, and the Tyranado's last arm follows shortly behind it, rippling
outward in a series of bursting, muted booms as metal ruptures from the
impact. But Sagiri doesn't care.
<"SO PUCKER UP, YOUR MAJESTY!">
She has a promise to keep, and she's damn well gonna do it.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Takeda has posed.
The light beams come at Ultraman Solis, less powerful than the large one that
threatened to wipe them out. But the Giant of Light is ready this time. His
hands swing out and down, creating a shield of light to block the beam. A
bright one. Even then, the Blue Giant is pushed backwards.
Unlike the other Ultraman, Solis faces it head on as he withstands the blast
meant to take him out before he looks to what the others are doing. A nod is
given as he sees the implant being attacked.
Not joining in, Solis falls back and starts to fly alongside Island One,
watching to make sure it lands safely instead of joining in the final attack
on the Queen.
Now that they have the part that is controlling her gone, surely that means the
threat is over, right? Solis does his best to keep an eye on both the Queen
and the colony landing.
<Pose Tracker> Rin Naujakaite has posed.
Rin's snappy comeback engine seems to operate autonomously of her mech-gunning
brain circuits. She retains focus. And she answers Grace in a quiet voice, a
low voice. "No," she says. "It's Sheryl's credit. Do you understand? You
helped. She is not you. You are separate. She - ugh!!"
"I was the stray youth kept as a favor," Rin continues, baring her teeth, "and
even *he* was better than you on his *worst* day." The distant Count Starking,
perhaps, would appreciate that. Rin takes a deep breath --
Something flashes on the Queen.
Rin doesn't quite understand it.
-=-=-=-
Machines think faster than humans, even humans with jumped-up nervous systems.
"Aye, this is the doom I feared."
"I cannot take it in your stead, brother. My will is not my own."
"Know this, I do. Scorn!"
"I hear you, brother."
"We shall meet again. Remember this moment! Tell me of what I did. For the
mother! For the Black Knights! For VTeeE--"SIGNAL LOST
-=-=-=-=-
The flash fills Rin's view. A moment later, there is a shudder through the
Gespenst, but the signal from the comm feed is not so much as lost. The light
fades, several distorted chunks of cherry-red metal radiating angrily into the
void and surrounded by a sparkling mist, soon swept away by relative
velocities.
Rin stares forwards. Her eyes flick down to the submonitor that's black now.
"... r... sagiri?" Rin says, her eyes turning towards the Tyranado. She can see
it - but - Rin feels a swimminess not of zero-gravity.
Another voice speaks in her cockpit. It has not spoken before. It is flat, the
absolute cheapest little voice chips you get in discount Learn to Program
Digital Audio (ages 9-11) kits. Later, Rin may figure out it's actually coming
from the *motherboard* of one of the component modules, which had a system
speaker that was never returned.
"I SHALL REMEMBER."
The horrors in Rin bobble and flubble together for a moment. Thankfully, in
that moment, sound comes from the Tyranado. Rin lets out a tiny breath - Rami
- and a few moments later... Sagiri, but... She's going to attack. "I'll
back," Rin begins, before being interrupted again:
"MY BROTHER PERISHES" and Rin's hands fly off the control sticks as it
continues, "FOR EXECUTION OF PAIKTON NOMOS."
Questions flicker through Rin's mind. She clasps the weapon sub-control
instead. She forces herself to try and regain that broad-parallax view. "At
least we've got a target."
For Rin, the seconds crawl as Sagiri makes her attack run.
"Since when could you talk," Rin comments, voice swift, quiet, clipped.
"DO YOU REMEMBER?" Rin looks down the scope-simulation towards that tiny
(enormous) implant (slave-shackle), looming in a surreality that the human eye
can parse but cannot truly know.
"FROM THE FIRST."
Rin remembers Opal, handing her a Haro patterned with red and gold like the new
crop. She looked at the Haro, then, and in front of her sister she had said 'I
love them! We're gonna be best friends!'
Rin breathes out.
"I'll show you," she says, and it's really not much of a rejoinder, but more
potent is the sudden bursting streak of eye-searing light, fading after a
tight thin channel that seems to carve a gash in the universe for just one
moment into something like teal.
The target is the implant, and the moment where nothing is in the way was the
real goal. I guess, Rin thinks, the theory was sound. Her eyes are tearing up
all the same.
-=-=-=-
A large chunk of metal cools from cherry red to a more subtly angry hue.
Moments later, to a shiny congealed gray.
A small piece of digital data, fragmented through the remains of an antenna,
flicks towards the Carriax. It repeats a few seconds later. Maybe it was the
WiFi antenna, somewhere deep in the chassis. Something survived.
<Pose Tracker> Flay Allster has posed.
As massive as the Vajra Queen is, it seems their combined attacks against her
managed to accomplish something - at least enough to anger Grace, certainly.
Unfortunately, it also serves to anger the Vajra Queen, who defends herself
with more energy beams as they approach. They slam against the Perfect
Strike's field, making every movement against the behemoth of a Queen a battle
of attrition - and the Strike can't take much more. If they can just push
through a little more...
In the midst of their song, however, Ranka communicates to them directly... the
Vajra Queen is trying to fight back, but Grace did something to her? Flay
wonders if she really was right that they might be able to get through to the
Vajra Queen... but she has no idea how she's supposed to break Grace's
control herself. Alto, however... might be onto something, as her sensors
zoom in on the control module embedded in the Queen.
Unlike the coordinated precision offered by Alto and Leon's respective
Valkyries, the Perfect Strike configuration excels at raw firepower and little
else - which makes it well suited to providing cover fire for the two rushing
machines. The gatling barrels mounted above the Gundam's shoulder begin to
rotate, bullets shredding through the Vajra that pursue them -- without
killing them. "...Are you satisfied?" Flay asks of Grace, as the Perfect
Strike unleashes its final weapon - the anti-ship sword.
"Your efforts managed to unite the entire world together... both people and
Vajra, too. It's just a shame that it's against you, isn't it?" Using the
momentum from the Aile Striker, the Perfect Strike takes advantage of the
extended length of the blade to send it piercing for the implant controlling
the Vajra Queen, hopefully carving through a chunk with its beam emitters.
"...Because the world doesn't belong to anyone."
<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.
Why is she doing this? What drives her to this madness?
There isn't a pithy response Grace can give Alto. She can't possibly
summarize the jealousy and resentment she felt when Dr. Mao, the woman she
respected the most, sided with the research of Ranshe, her dearest friend,
over hers--even after all the warnings Grace gave both of them of the danger
involved. She can't possibly express how she felt when the Vajra attacked
Gallia IV and her fianc died trying to save her, only for both their bodies to
end up crushed. What could regular flesh-and-blood humans understand of the
horror of being disassembled, of being put back together with artificial
skin and lithe tubes for blood vessels? Of constantly feeling like she wasn't
human anymore and never would be again? Of how she'd lost everything and
everyone she'd ever loved because no one listened to her?
Well, now they'd have to listen to her. ALL of them would. And if that
comes with the price of inflicting her hatred and spite on everyone around
her, including the children and grandchild of the women who should have meant
more to her than anyone, to avenge herself for what they robbed from
her--surely that was worth it.
No, Grace doesn't bother to answer Alto's question out loud. There's no
pithy answer she is willing to give. But being asked does make her stop and
think about it.
And as she thinks about it...
"Let's breathe out and now go choose the future!"
"Stop it!! This is the only future I can have!!"
Ranka directs everyone's attention to where Grace set the implant in
the Vajra Queen's body. Grace's eyes widen, and it's only now that she
realizes that she might just lose. "No!! I've come too far--worked too
hard--for Ranshe's spawn to take EVERYTHING AWAY FROM ME AGAIN!!" she screams
in desperate defiance, artificial hair fibers in disarray, unnecessary
spectacles falling askew.
"Valkyria..."
And once again, it's Sagiri who comes in to counter her--to point out
every which way Grace has failed as a manager, despite her literally
superhuman organizational skills. Astarte, Aisha and Leon dismiss Grace in
their own ways, from wishing they could mute her to decrying her 'genius' to
carrying out orders in the most defiant way possible; Rin seethes at her on a
more personal level, punctuated by her own furious disgust. But Sagiri takes
Grace down on an ideological level, piece by piece by bitter, vengeful piece.
Flay only punctuates it by pointing out the obvious: that she did connect
human and Vajra, by giving them a common enemy.
She could say she's no manager anymore. She could say that
she's meant to stand above humans and Vajra alike. But that just wouldn't ring
sincere anymore at this point, would it? Flay is right; the world belongs to
no one. That's the worst part of all. Grace can only pant in fury as Sagiri
takes this moment not just from her, but herself--and gives it squarely to
Sheryl and Ranka.
The way a good manager should.
It's so thorough a rebuttal, she can't even say a word.
"I met the wind and, Valkyria..."
So Grace tries instead to fall back on force to prove for her that
she's right--but the Vajra no longer respond to her will. As Ranka said, the
Queen has been trying to fight Grace this whole time. The One Fine Day blasts
away the attacks the Queen had sent out, keeping the others protected as they
do what they must. The Tritten Team blast away at the nape of the Vajra
Queen's neck until their batteries run out. Ultraman holds off the last of the
Vajra loyalists, keeping them from hurting the humans or each other until one
by one their control is broken. The YF-30, Aisha's masterpiece, shows off the
genius of its creator in the hands of its pilot as Leon swoops in to take out
more of the implant. One drone is sacrificed so that the other may remember
and drive Rin's Gespenst to triumph with a gash in just the right spot of the
universe. Flay drives in the raw firepower of the Perfect Strike, making
perfect use of that Anti-Ship Sword to deliver a decisive strike. All the
while, Ultraman Solis protects Island-1, ensuring it and the many people
aboard can land safely on the surface of the planet below.
And Sagiri fulfills her promise by planting the Tyranado's single
remaining fist in the mightiest possible uppercuts into the Queen's implant,
where it EXPLODES and sends shrapnel shooting through the last cords to shred
them to bits.
"One day I'll see it off, Valkyria..."
On a creature of this scale, there's no one person who could have made
this possible. Each and every combatant present was necessary to make this
happen. And as each and every combatant cuts away more and more of those
implant connections, the more the Vajra Queen can fight back and regain
herself and her kin, until finally the last of the Vajra fleets turn to join
Ranka and Sheryl to defeat their true enemy. With Grace's control severed, the
Vajra Queen... reaches up her vast claws and brings them to her head... digs
in at the spot where Grace has burrowed herself into...
and tears.
"There are no lives that won't shine before the dawn!"
The true starlight pours in on Grace as the Vajra Queen rips a hole
open in her own head, revealing Grace's location. The look on Grace's face is
one of pure terror. This isn't what she'd planned! This shouldn't even be
possible! None of this--she predicted none of this!!
...The vastness of the starry cosmos is clear to her now that she's
been made vulnerable. There's nothing Grace can do to stop her defeat now.
Yet, as she stares up at the assembled forces of humanity, joined with the
Vajra dancing alongside them in peace and unity, the look in her eyes shifts.
"We are alive!"
"...the galaxy..."
She, too, had been at that kabuki concert. She'd brought Sheryl there
to see Alto. And the two of them met Ranka, and formed this triangle, now
aimed to put an end to her ambitions...
...Her Fairy-9 shines brightest in the depths of the deepest despair.
And even now, despite everything, despite how this moment does not belong to
her...
"I'll don armor of light and soar through the sky..."
"...it's rocking...!"
...she's a possessive woman. And she can't help but be proud.
"Valkyria, Valkyria..."
As Sheryl and Ranka join their voices higher and higher, higher and
higher, reaching that joyous crescendo, Grace stares down Alto's Sentinel
and... relaxes. Fine, then, her slow, slight smile seems to say. If she's
to die and be defeated here... she may as well do it--with grace.
"ON WINGS OF FAREWELL!"
<Pose Tracker> Alto Saotome has posed.
Did it work?
Is it free?
Alto breaks away from his run against the implant, turning over his
shoulder to watch as the Queen reaches up to her own head-
-And tears into it!?
At first Alto is confused... But then a screen on his canopy zooms in
on the wound and within it...
Grace.
Alto frowns.
This is it. Her control is compromised, her location revealed. She is
vulnerable. She can be stopped...
Alto hadn't yet even considered what he would do at this point. He was
too busy trying to get here. Yet now he has to make a decision. Of all the
people here, he's the only one in the position to make that choice. Grace has
gone too far...
And yet, she's still Grace. The person who raised Sheryl. If it wasn't
for Grace...
Alto's grip tightens on his controls. This needs to end now. He has to
do it.
The Sentinel turns to rush along the Queen's neck, slipping around its
large head to rise up above it. The VF transforms into Battroid mode, bringing
the beam gunpod in its hands around to aim down through the wound at the
partially merged woman within.
On his screen, Alto can see his sights settle over Grace...
Who seems to be smiling?
'ON WINGS OF FAREWELL!'
"Farewell..."
Alto pulls the trigger.
-=-=-=-=-
With the Vajra in disarray, the Frontier Fleet has managed to make its
way into low orbit. The fleet's various vessels are glowing as the flames of
re-entry burn around them. The largest comet of all is the massive Island One
colony ship, which rapidly decelerates as it essentially falls out of orbit.
Soon enough, the fleet finishes making its way into the atmosphere
proper. They break away to give the large colony ship a clear path down, the
large vessel rapidly slowing as its large thrusters fire. Soon enough it
impacts a body of water, just off the coast of a large landmass. Huge waves
ripple outwards from the heavy landing, the water giving way to the huge
ship's mass.
But finally the water settles as the city ship rises once more to come
to a rest floating on the water's surface. The colony ship has safely landed,
ready to establish a new home on this world.
<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.
...
...
...in the lull that follows after Alto shoots down Grace and her nest, Sheryl
clutches her golden microphone to her chest. Tears bead in her eyes, and she
looks away from the hole in the Vajra Queen's body where Grace once was. Just
as she had felt Ranka's outrage on her behalf and Alto's consideration for her
even as he chose the only way this could end... she felt Grace's last words
too.
Sheryl is absolutely more than what Grace made of her, yes. Sagiri and Rin and
all of her friends who'd supported her genuinely up until now--they're
absolutely the ones who deserve the credit for her standing here today, for
all that Sagiri refuses to accept it. She'll tell them all as much later, when
the dust has settled, too. But... for all that Grace had hurt her... for all
that she'd used her...
-one day, i'll rock the galaxy with my song! i swear!-
-...the galaxy... ...it's rocking...!-
...Sheryl can't just dismiss her as nothing, can't just feel nothing as she
dies. It's simply not that easy to dismiss someone you considered family.
Ranka looks at her from the side, eyebrows knitted in concern. She rests a hand
on Sheryl's arm. As the strings of their song still play sweetly, she takes a
deep breath.
"I love you..." she sings.
Sheryl blinks over at her, tears sparkling away. When Ranka smiles warmly,
Sheryl can only mirror it and turn to face her.
"I love you..." she sings back.
They clasp hands, then turn back towards what remains of the battlefield.
Together, they reach out their hands towards Alto--towards all of their
friends and allies--towards the injured but now-free Vajra Queen.
"I love you..." they sing together.
And... with slow grace... the Vajra Queen extends her clawed arms back,
mirroring them exactly the same. She cannot form human words, but there is a
great squeaking and whistling that matches the melody--a feeling that
resonates back into them, to everyone, to return what they have gifted her.
"I love you..." they sing as one.
The Vajra rise, like shooting stars in reverse. The Queen included, part of
her head still gouged out but already beginning the slow process of healing
itself, every part of their hive encircling the planet is set aglow as the
survivors come forth. They join together, sparkling like glittering stardust
in wending lines around the Queen, who now bears radiant wings. The aliens
that warred with humanity for years now look beautiful, miraculous in this new
context, as they leave the planet they called home.
And as they do, they all hear it.
Aimo aimo
Nedel lushe
Noina miria
Endel prodea
Photomi
It is not Ranka Lee, nor is it Sheryl Nome that is singing it. The Vajra
themselves are broadcasting it as they leave this world behind to humanity, to
brave the great unknown. A song of acceptance, and love towards their two new
Queens from another race.
And an acknowledgement of misunderstandings and harm done. Perhaps this is
their penance, or perhaps they simply understand that more time is needed.
However, what they do understand is this universe is vast - and there is room
both for them and a humanity.
Maybe one day... for now, they seek a new home.
On the bridge of the Macross Quarter, Bobby eventually asks a question, with a
hand rubbing his chin, <"Say, why would this song exist when Vajra have no
need to communicate?">
It is Ranka that answers over the comms, with a smile. <"I said before it was a
love song. I don't think I made it clear... it's their love song.">
In her mind's eye, she remembers being a small child, laying her head on her
mother's lap. For some reason she can remembers the words now so clearly -
despite having forgotten them for so long.
<"There are Vajra all over the universe. In order to meet and mingle with
other Vajra living in other galaxies once every million-no, billions of years,
they sing this song. 'Aimo, Aimo' to the Vajra means... 'My Darling, my
darling.'">
It may be difficult to take Ranka simply at her word for it, conveying second
hand what her mother researched, but even if the scientists may debate the
linguistic evolution of the Vajra, they all feel it now amongst them.
My darling my darling
And this includes humanity now. That feeling of parting... but 'May we one
day meet again' as well. And to a humanity that has braved this warm
universe, and been through so much pain and sorrow over the misunderstandings
and miscommunications of two races meeting...
...this verdant blue world we give to you.
And as the gift is given, and the Vajra starts to fade to begin their long
journey to another galaxy, Ranka Lee turns towards Sheryl Nome, with an arm
around her, and in a moment of selfishness, draws Alto and her back into this
space...
... because for all the miracles of existence being shown to her today,
kissing - and being kissed, that is a miracle she'd like to experience more
of, right now and ever after.
<Pose Tracker> Astarte Spalding-Monteiro has posed.
The One Fine Day pulls away from the city ship with the rest of the
fleet, Algernon furiously bringing the ship over to the landmass. "Easy now,
easy..." the bearded helmsman mutters to himself as he eases the thrusters,
the ship rocking a bit as it comes to a hover and comes down onto terra firma.
There isn't a single breath on the ship until the familiar thud of
landfall, upon which the entire crew breaks out in cheers and applause, the
captain letting out a weary sigh as she slumps over slightly. First Officer
Xiao comes to her side and holds her up, an uncharacteristically enthusiastic
smile on her face.
"Captain, the colony ship has successfully touched down. We've done
it."
"Well, of course we have, Xiao. You're my crew, aren't you?"
"Heh, I suppose I should have learned by now to trust you."
Astarte pulls herself up and makes for the back of the bridge. "I
think I'm going to go get some air. First Officer Xiao, you have the bridge."
"Yes, ma'am!" Xiao gives a crisp salute as the captain leaves the
bridge. A while later, the boarding ramp of the One Fine Day comes down,
finding purchase on the new planet's land, with Astarte and a few crew members
walking out and taking a look around.
Astarte looks over to the colony ship in the water and the rest of the
fleet coming down, then scans across the untouched wild. "They couldn't have
chosen a better place, I think."
<Pose Tracker> Rose Tritten has posed.
In the infinite cosmos, once more amongst debris and the fallen, three ZAKU
Warriors rest silently. Sitting on the shoulder of Rose's mobile suit, three
young women, one clad red, two clad green, sit and watch as the Vajra set off
to worlds unknown. The three turn back to a live broadcast of the trio of
lovers reunited once more, playing on one of the ZAKU's comms tablets.
"Ohhhh, they're just so cute!" Asypn sighed, placing a hand on her helmeted
cheek. "I hope they'll come back to the PLANTs from time to time for a
concert..."
"I'm sure they will." Sushila replied, leaning against the ZAKU's head.
"Honestly I'm more concerned about when the One Fine Day is going to come pick
us up. Would have been nice to step foot on the planet. A whole colony...far
away from all the crap back home."
"I'm sure Captain Astarte will do a run back down to let us say goodbye to
everyone..." Rose sighed, curling up her legs as she sat on her mobile suit.
"You know it's funny...we've managed to make peace with...beings
so...different from us... even though we can't talk to each other, we were
still able to make our feelings known."
Rose looked back up at the beautiful world, only just touched by human hand.
"...Why can't we do that with the Naturals?"
"...Maybe we can? Maybe not...but we can like...try, can't we?" Aspyn said,
looking up at Sushila, looking off into the cosmic unknown. "...I mean I'll
try, but only because you two dorks want to." Sushila finally replied. "But
we're still going to have to fight a lot more of them before that happens."
The three women sat, adrift together, wondering what their future would bring.
<Pose Tracker> Flay Allster has posed.
Moments before Sagiri makes explosive impact against the Queen's implant, the
Anti-Ship Sword is driven out of the Queen now that it's served its purpose -
returned to its place on the Perfect Strike's backpack. With that, the Phase
Shift Armour fades off, and it's as if the Strike watches lifelessly as Alto
makes a decisive shot, ending Grace's life. She may have been a monster of a
person to the very end, but Flay can't help but wonder what brought her to
that point. Perhaps it's something only Sheryl could ever now.
At the same time, it seems humanity really has been able to befriend the Vajra
now that the Queen has been freed... and they sing a familiar song. Flay
thinks back to the first time she heard 'Aimo' - the militaristic version that
accompanied NUNE's operations against the Vajra. Now, that version feel so
distant, so far off from the true intent... after all, the Vajra are no longer
an enemy. Between all the people the Vajra killed, and all the Vajra people
killed, Flay couldn't have ever imagined it to turn out this way... but like
it does for the Tritten trio maybe it brings a sense of hope that humanity's
conflicts between itself can one day be resolved, too.
As the fleet begins to approach it, the planet that the Vajra leaves humanity
with is also so distant from Earth - Flay wonders too if the people who decide
to settle here will be able to find peace far away from the conflicts of the
Earth Sphere. Maybe that conflict is all the more reason it's so important to
go back... but at least for today, this world can enjoy a fairy tale ending.
<Pose Tracker> Shinji Kaminaga has posed.
Grace is finally, fully defeated; the fused Vajra Queen, alas, must die for her
sins. A colony ship lands on the planet below, and the Vajra sing a song of
love and parting as they begin a new migration, having learned something new
at great, great pain.
Ultraman floats in space as each creature winks out, as the humans and go their
way and the Vajra their own.
Perhaps Solis hears it, finally, a single tumbling thought; not in Ultranese,
but Japanese.
<<Humans... So this is their answer.>>
With nothing more, he flies away, shooting off away from the once-Vajra
homeworld before vanishing into the Planck Brane and beyond the reach of
4-dimensional tracking.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Takeda has posed.
It is a bit of a start that Solis does hear the fellow Giant of Light's
thought. Before it was a guarded mind, and he was not about to forcefully
intrude. It was something that was antithesis to what he is. A warrior of
honor, of pride, and a protector against things.
But now... now he had an idea as to what was going on perhaps.
Japanese? That narrows it down to a few million at least and who knows how high
at the most if he ever wanted to go track the other Ultra down.
But now, he lands after the colony ship, landing softly on the ground. Looking
up at the Vajra Queen as he puts a hand on his hip.
This new world. He looked around at it. Then up at the Macross vessels and
other fighters.
That the other has left has him raising his other hand up to his chin. A
thinking posture. One that shows he is unsure what the future holds.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Sakaki has posed.
The galaxy is moving. Leon sees it - the way that Sheryl Nome and Ranka Lee
shake the very heavens themselves. It's indescribably beautiful.
In that one moment, the Vajra Queen rips Grace free, finally freeing the race
from mankind's control, and Leon gasps.
"Alto, do it! Take the shot!" Leon calls.
There is the flash of a Gunpod, and then ... there is only song.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Frontier fleet descends to Earth, flaming up in the atmosphere like tiny
meteors. Alongside it, Skull Squadron and Pixie Team descend onto what will
become their new home. The Quarter splashes down alongside Island One, coming
to rest, her long mission finally complete.
"Aimo, aimo, needer rushe. . ." The skies of the Vajra home planet are a clear,
crystal blue, and the seas glimmer in the sun. The group comes to rest on the
sparkling green glass, leaving their cockpits one by one.
"It's a nice song," Ozma remarks, as he and Cathy embrace.
"Just an ordinary love song..." Cathy responds, thoughtfully.
Klan steps out of her burnt and smoking Queadlunn, scooping Michael up and out
of his VF and into her hands so he can see the scenery. They don't exchange
words, but they smile. These rosy lands will be their new home. Michael is
glad he's alive to see it.
Luca dashes through the halls of Island One, tearfully running into the arms of
his family. They're okay. They're all okay. He's free now, from that burden.
It's a new day for the pioneers of the Macross Frontier. And a new day will
bring new challenges. The Vajra would want them to keep this planet beautiful,
and they'll have to prove they're up to the task. But for now, they're content
to simply drink in the vastness of that beautiful blue sky.
- - - - - - - -
Leon makes a shape with his hand - thumb and pinky stretched out with the ring,
middle, and index finger pushed together - as he traces the path of a red and
white Variable Fighter far above.
"It's a nice sky," Leon says to Aisha as they stand on the deck of the seabound
Gefion. The YF-30's silver underbody glistens behind them in the daylight. He
didn't crash this one!
"I hope he gets to enjoy it," the chestnut haired young man finishes.
"I'm sure he will," Aisha responds.
"Almost makes me want to go up there and join him..." Aisha just shakes her
head with a smile.
"I think we should give those three some privacy."
"Yeah, you're right."
"Besides! You may not have crashed her, but you did a number on my poor
Chronos. Do you know how overworked the engine is after that?"
"Well, most of that was the new system..." Leon sheepishly replies.
"Gah! Deculture!" Aisha grabs Leon by the ear and drags him back inside.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A few days pass, and the time comes for the Gefion crew to say their goodbyes.
They're tearful (not that Leon would admit it), but with promises to meet
again. Ozma gives him a Fire Bomber CD (to teach him some real culture, he
says), and Leon also ends up with an autograph from Ranka. Leon salutes the
Skull Squadron. He's learned a lot in his temporary time with the group. He'll
treasure these memories for years. (Except the one where Alto tried to kill
him. That didn't happen.) "Siegfried 1, mission complete!"
The Gefion lifts off, and Aisha and Leon stand at the bridge as they take one
final look at the planet.
"So, where to now, Mr. Sakaki? Back to Sephira?" Aisha asks.
"You know, I'm not really sure. Doesn't feel like there's too much for me
there, honestly."
"Well, the Macross City branch does happen to have a couple job openings..."
Aisha says with a wry smile. "There are some odd Fold readings occuring back
on Earth that I never really had the chance to look at, plus there's that
Lilium girl. I may be a genius," She puts her hands on her hips as she says
this. "but I can always use an extra set of hands."
"You know, I think I might take you up on that offer," Leon says, smiling back
with a slightly doofier expression.
"Good to hear it! Welcome aboard, Siegfried 1!" The two salute each other, and
then burst out into laughter.
Later, Leon sits in the Chronos's cockpit and takes a second to stare at the
photo he keeps there. Mia. . .
The years, the stars, and everything become entangled.
Leon has a lot of bad memories. But, he thinks, as he puts a new photo up in
his cockpit, he's made some pretty great ones too.
When our souls link, it will begin.
As Leon climbs out of the cockpit, the photo stays there. In its frame, Leon
and Alto stand in front of the Quarter on a beautiful sunny day, shaking hands
as Leon gives the camera a thumbs up and a smile.
Thank you, Frontier.