October 2009, Mars Base Salla
Marissa let out a shout as she ducked a shot from an enemy Regult, then fired back with a shot from her Battroid’s gun. The Regult exploded, and was replaced by another two Regults.
There’s so many of them, she thought, and the Macross can’t retreat! The Macross was held down by gravity mines, preventing it from escaping. Their only hope now was to blow up Mars Base Salla and take the mines down with it.
From what she could gather, Commander Hayase had volunteered to fly down to the base and set it to self-destruct. Which seemed strange to Marissa. Why would the commander risk her life to destroy the base when one of the Skull Squadron could have done it instead? They were already on the ground, after all...
Marissa quickly shrugged the thought away and focused on blasting more Regults into oblivion.
Skull Leader’s voice suddenly came over the tac channel.
“Commander Hayase’s not answering any calls. She may be hurt or trapped.” After a moment, Skull Leader spoke up again. “Skull 11, you go investigate and get her out!”
“Eh?” Skull 11 yelped in surprise. “Why me?” Ichijyo and Commander Hayase’s spats over the tac channel were legendary at this point, so sending him to rescue her sounded absolutely hilarious to Marissa.
“That’s an order, Hikaru!” Skull Leader answered and closed the connection.
Marissa smirked as she saw Skull 11 rocket away toward the base. Ichijyo must have been grumbling all the way there.
After what seemed like an eternity, Skull Squadron was given the order to fall back. As the base erupted into flames, the Macross slowly lifted off the sandy, red ground. As Marissa watched, she could almost see a lone Valkyrie zoom away from the base and toward the Macross.
Days later, Marissa passed Commander Hayase in the hallway. She saluted, but the commander didn’t seem to notice. She looked dazed, almost depressed.
Marissa looked back at her in confusion. She’d heard down the grapevine that the commander had been like this since she was rescued from Mars Base, and no one knew why. Ichijyo, who’d earned a medal and a promotion for her rescue, knew just as little.
Was there something on Mars Base that upset her?
Marissa’s phone chirped, interrupting her thoughts. Pulling it out, she checked her messages and smiled.
Are we still on tonight at 6? - Cal
You bet. - Marissa
Nyan-Nyan’s showing the Miss Macross contest tonight.
It’ll be crowded as heck. Still want to go? - Cal
I wouldn’t miss it for the world! - Marissa