February 2010, Earth’s Orbit
Marissa couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
Standing on one of the Macross’ observation decks, she could feel herself wobble as her legs turned to jelly. She would have fallen to her knees if Cal hadn’t been there to catch her. As the two of them hugged each other desperately, neither of them could take their eyes off of the scene in front of them.
The Earth, once a beautiful, blue and green jewel, was burning. Large clouds of debris surrounded the sphere, as the debris of thousands of former satellites gathered. On the surface, huge swaths of destroyed forests, plains, and what was once large cities burned and oozed like open wounds. The oceans boiled.
When the energy beams of over 4 million Zentradi ships finally faded, the Earth was nothing but a dry, cratered wasteland.
Marissa stared at the Earth in disbelief. Her mind flashed back to the destroyed city in the Ontario Autonomous Region, and her own nightmares of destruction, and tried to deny the fact that her greatest fear had come true.
“Mom… Dad…” she whispered, her eyes filling with tears. She thought back to the last time she had seen her parents, two years ago, right before leaving for basic training. She also thought of her younger brother, Matt, who had looked up to her and dreamed of being a Valkyrie pilot just like her.
Now they were gone. She would never see them again. She looked up at Cal, seeing his own face etched with grief, and knew he was thinking of his own parents.
“What can we do?” Marissa whispered, “We’re outnumbered, outgunned… and the Earth is…” She could feel the walls closing in on her.
Cal hugged her tightly. “If we die, at least we’ll be together.”
Suddenly a bright beam of light burst from the Earth’s North Pole. Marissa and Cal looked toward it, mesmerized. The beam blasted into the Zentradi fleet, obliterating a large swath of ships.
“What’s that?” Cal asked.
“It’s…” A shocked look crossed Marissa’s face. “The Grand Cannon! Alaska Base… they’re still there!”
Marissa’s phone pinged. She pulled it out and checked her messages. A puzzled look appeared on her face. “A briefing?”
Cal stared at her incredulously. “What?”
“The Captain must have a plan.” She looked back at Cal with a hopeful smile. “We haven’t given up yet!”
Marissa sat quietly as she taxied her VF-1A onto the ramp and waited for her turn to launch. Her video screen showed Minmay preparing for her performance.
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 gap in the Zentradi fleet left behind by the Grand Cannon, and using Minmay’s performance as a distraction, they would clear the way for the Macross to approach and fire the main gun at the enemy mothership. Then...
Marissa breathed in and out shakily. This was the most important battle of her life, and the fear of injury or death lingered sneakily in the back of her mind.
She swallowed and pushed the fear away as she remembered her heartfelt goodbye to Cal, and her promise to return alive. She thought of Max and Millia, fighting together, and Ichijyo, knowing that Commander Hayase was waiting for him in Alaska. She thought of all the loved ones she had lost, and vowed that their deaths would not be in vain.
At last, Marissa saw the signal to launch. Clearing her throat, she spoke into the comm confidently.
“Skull Ten, launching!”
Marissa fell back into her seat as her Valkyrie zoomed out of the Macross and into the darkness of space. As she did so, music boomed out, as Minmay’s song was broadcast across both human and Zentradi fleets.
“Right now I hear your voice saying ‘Come here to me.’
Just when it seemed loneliness had beaten me...”
A group of Regults appeared in front of Marissa and she fired, aiming at their arms and legs and leaving them dead in the water. They were soon replaced by more Regults. Marissa fired on them, hitting one and missing another.
“Out of the way, coming through!” she yelled.
Slowly, slowly, they advanced closer to the enemy mothership.
“Do you remember? The time when our eyes first met?
Do you remember? The time when our hands first touched?
That was the very first time I set out on the journey of love.
I love you so.”
Marissa shot down another Regult, hitting it in the leg, when a Queadluun-Rau appeared from behind and shot at her. Her Valkyrie shook from the impact as it was sent flying and crashed into a floating pile of debris. Marissa fumbled with her controls, trying desperately to move, but she was stuck. The Queadluun-Rau lifted an arm to shoot Marissa, but thinking quickly, she opened a comm channel to the enemy unit and blasted Minmay’s music through it.
“I’m not alone anymore
now that you’re here with me.”
The Queadluun-Rau shook, then fell away as the pilot was overwhelmed by the music.
As the enemy unit drifted away, Marissa sighed in relief, then tried to get her bearings. Unfortunately, her Valkyrie was damaged and she could no longer move. She could see the large figure of the Macross passing by, following the path cut by the Valkyrie fighters, and she wished them good luck.
After what seemed like an eternity, there was a massive explosion from the center of the Zentradi fleet. The shock waves destroyed several Zentradi ships, and knocked Marissa’s disabled Valkyrie adrift.
Marissa managed to right herself and look back at the explosion, shielding her eyes. As the light faded away, she grinned and let out a loud whoop.
“We did it!” she shouted to no one in particular, “We did it!”
Then, she heard her other squadron mates cheering through the tac channel, with the damaged and disabled ones radioing for assistance and rescue. Marissa joined in the cacophony.
Marissa was waiting when the all-clear finally sounded and the civilian population was finally allowed to leave the shelters. She and Cal had a tearful, romantic reunion that drew the attention of several people. As the two of them approached the observation deck, the Macross had entered Earth’s atmosphere and was preparing to land.
Marissa looked down at the Earth’s surface with a sad, bittersweet smile. She had heard from Max that Ichijyo had rescued Commander Hayase from Alaska Base and that they were waiting for the Macross on the surface. So they were able to find each other, she thought with amusement. She hoped there were other survivors.
She saw the barren, rocky wasteland of what used to be forest, or a city, and for a moment she lost hope. The rain of death from space had destroyed so much. But then she looked around, this time at the people around her – people who had worked so hard to build a livable city within the belly of a giant battleship. People who never gave up.
We can rebuild, she thought. She saw a handful of micronized Zentradi celebrating with the others, and thought of the Zentradi ships still in orbit, whose crews would be open to peaceful negotiation now.
If we work together, we can rise again.
So, that's the end! I hope you enjoyed this short romp in the Macross universe. I've always wondered what a new/rebooted Macross series would be like, with the original TV version's story and the DYRL movie's animation and music. This story partially stemmed from that.
"Do You Remember Love?" English lyrics translated by Theresa Martin.