As the SDF-1 Macross fights its way back to Earth and beyond, an ordinary Valkyrie pilot reflects on the war and comments on the complicated lives of her superiors.
April 2009, Saturn’s Rings
Marissa Hunter sat idling in her VF-1A Valkyrie as she waited in line for her turn to launch. She stared at her heads-up display and saw her bright green eyes reflected back at her, along with thin wisps of short brown hair falling onto her forehead and neck. Her white space suit and helmet, trimmed in violet and blue, still smelled new and crisp.
Tapping her finger nervously on the console, Marissa went over the plan again in her head for the twentieth time. Skull Squadron was to enter the rocky debris of Saturn’s rings, using the shadow of the planet as cover, then ambush the enemy forces. Then…
Marissa breathed in and out shakily. This was her third sortie already, but the fear of injury or death still clung to her like a limpet. Granted, this was her first of the three sorties that was a big, important battle.
She swallowed and tried to push the fear away as she remembered that one of her squadron mates was even greener than she was and this was his first sortie. What was his name again? Ijiko? Ichigo? They’d only met that day, and all she knew was that his squadron number was the one after hers, and that he was somehow pretty close with Skull Leader.
At last, Marissa noticed the signal to launch. Clearing her throat, she spoke into the comm more confidently than she felt.
“Skull Ten, launching!”
Marissa fell back into her seat as her Valkyrie zoomed out of the Macross and into the darkness of space. As the giant spread of rocks and asteroids that was Saturn’s rings drew close, she tensed.
As she entered the ring, she took one last look at her heads-up display, seeing that the fighters in front of her had already started dodging the rocks. She caught a glance at Skull 11 flying behind her, and frowned. It was flying at a completely different trajectory – above the ring, and not into it.
What the hell...
She thought about contacting Skull 11 over the tac net, but changed her mind. Better to focus on her own mission and let the higher-ups deal with that crap.
With that, Marissa entered the rings and dodged the first giant rock that appeared in her way.
After a few long, agonizing minutes of avoiding rocks and debris, the quiet was suddenly interrupted by a woman’s angry voice.
“Skull 11, what in blazes do you think you’re doing?!”
Marissa recognized the stern voice of the Macross’ first officer, Commander Misa Hayase.
“I-well,” the voice from Skull 11 stammered, “the others were flying dangerously, so I thought-”
“Did you listen to the briefing or not? The others are maintaining cover within the rings, while you’re out in the open where everyone can see you! You’re the one flying dangerously!”
Skull 11 spluttered, then spat out “Fine, fine, I’m moving, you old hag!” Then he vectored into the ring.
Marissa snickered. The poor greenhorn was going to get a mouthful as soon as this mission was done, she was sure of it!
A few days later, after a thankfully successful mission, Marissa spied the greenhorn – Ichijyo, that was his name! – while walking down the street near Nyan-Nyan Restaurant. He was with Commander Focker, Commander Hayase, and a few others she recognized from the bridge. And he was staring at Commander Hayase like he wanted to crawl under a rock.
“Something funny, Mari?”
“Huh?” Marissa turned toward a tall guy with brown hair, brown eyes and a gentle face.
“You had this weird smile on your face.”
Marissa shook her head. “Nothing, Cal. I just remembered something amusing.” She clung to his arm and pulled him toward Nyan-Nyan. “Let’s go! I’m starving!”
Welcome to my first Macross fic! Like what the tags say, this is set in the Macross TV universe, but with some aspects of Do You Remember Love? added in. One example is Hikaru's squadron designation: Skull 11. With Marissa being Skull 10, and Hikaru being a complete newbie, she was sure to notice and remember him! Also, despite Marissa's last name, I'm not bringing Robotech into this story at all. I just thought it would be hilarious if one of the unnamed Valkyrie pilots in the Macross universe had the last name Hunter.