Welcome back, folks. My system imploded last week, and I'm still in the process of re-installing everything. My dictionary's gone, too, so sorry if I spelled any in-show stuff wrong. And yes, this is the third time since I got a FFN account that this has happened.

ANYHOW, shutting up. Enjoy the chapter, and R&R if you would.

Chapter 5, Into the Unknown.

Ranko winced as the VF-4S in front of her kicked in its afterburners once more, keeping just out of reach as it executed a tight, high G course change to swoop directly over her cockpit. Responding instantly, she threw her own plane into an almost exact duplicate of the move, her many years of flight testing temperamental aircraft coming in handy as she completed the roll at the end much more smoothly and with a lot less thrust.

She smiled as she heard a soft mumble of annoyance through the open Comm, before Commander Einburg opened his engines to full again, trying to out-distance his persistent tail.

HR.

“This is insane.” Dan muttered, watching the two small orange dots that flitted across the screen of his close range radar.

“You’re telling me.” Dana said, over the flight frequency. “I think they forgot about us.” One of the other two pilots laughed, but Dan couldn’t tell which one it was because both of the twins in flight 1 sounded the same over the comm.

Abruptly, just before Orange 21 was about to overtake Orange 1 on the radar, the squadron leader’s voice came over the link. “All right, that’s enough Tendo.” He said, trying to sound cheerful. “Let’s get back to work, shall we?”

“Yes, sir.” Ranko said, and Dan could almost hear the smirk over the radio.

“Nice job, Ma’am.” He complimented, followed by an agreement from Dana.

Ranko just snorted. “Almost got him.” She said, then shrugged. “Though he’s right, that S-type of his outperforms our machines by quite a bit.”

“Didn’t look like it from where I was flying.” Dana laughed, but was silenced as the commander began issuing flight orders.

HR.

A bit over three hours later, the Veritechs of Orange squadron lowered into the hangar, and then slowly taxied to their parking positions. “Interesting landing, Bartlet.” Dana chuckled, as Orange 23 came in with evident, though slight, damage to one of its landing gear.

Dan snorted. “I just overcompensated a bit for the Weapons deck they bolted onto our rear, that’s all. I expected it to make a bigger difference than it did.” He complained, referring to the large, blocky addition that had been made to the Ayanami’s stern section the day before, right before it had docked with the Tiger.

“Sure… excuses, excuses.” Dana laughed, teasing. She’d felt a little like an idiot always getting lost over the past couple of days, even though she’d been told that it was only natural for a newcomer to an ARMD, and was glad that someone else had screwed up.

“Cut the chatter.” Ranko said. “Dan’s just lucky we were still in zero G when that happened. Make sure you study any changes to the ship more carefully next time, all right?”

“Yes, Ma’am." Dan replied, sheepishly.

The three became silent after that, and moments later the aircraft had been completely powered down. As the five pilots stood in front of their planes, Commander Einburg paced up and down in front of them.

“Well, you all seem to know a flight stick from a transformation control, which is good. We’re going to be going into a possible combat zone in a few days, when the ship drops out of its first fold jump, so you’d all better get prepared, and Bartlet, I suggest you take some time in the simulators before then. Dismissed, for now.” He said, and the group turned to walk out of the room.

As Ranko reached the door, she heard someone running up behind her. “Ma’am.” He said, the voice identifying him as Toshi. Ranko merely looked back at him, and shrugged. “You promised that you’d explain what was going on?” He asked, then smirked. “And something tells me this is a good story.”

“You wanna tell me how my plane’s fairing, first?” She asked, diverting the subject.

He shrugged. “Well, we’ve got all the replacement parts in, and I found someone to help out.” He said, smirking slightly. “We should be able to get the airframe repaired faster than we thought.”

“Good,” She said, then thought of something. “Oh, and if you’ve got time, I’ve got a VF-4 over there with a blown hydraulic cylinder on its nose gear.”

“I’ll get it later.” He said, before smirking. “And you’ve still failed to change the subject.”

She sighed, but nodded. “You free to get something to eat? I’m hungry. I’ll tell you while we eat.”

“Always happy to, so long as you’re paying.” He chuckled, following her as she exited the room.

Behind her, Dan sighed, causing Dana to give him an odd look. “Well, guess that’s why she shot me down earlier.” He commented.

“Huh?” The blond asked, not comprehending.

“I suppose he’s her boyfriend.” He answered, shortly.

In the hallway, Ranko felt an inexplicable urge to start laughing, but shrugged it off as she and her mechanic kept walking towards the officers Mess.

HR.

“So… now I’ve got to serve as a girl, and baby-sit Ben’s goddaughter.” Ranko said, after swallowing another bite of some form of poultry that may, in some incarnation, have been chicken. “Not that I really mind, I mean Dana’s a nice kid and I don’t wanna see anything bad happen to her, but…” She shrugged.

“So that’s it.” Toshi said, nodding. “I was sorta wondering when you didn’t yell at me when I called you Ma’am. I’ll be sure to tell commander Hibiki so he doesn’t blow your cover.”

Ranko choked on her next bite of food. “H… Hibiki?” She hacked, while simultaneously trying to swallow. “He’s here?”

Toshi nodded. “I found him in the machine shop. Said he got lost.” He said, as if it were the only explanation that was necessary. with Hibiki though, it was. Ranko groaned.

“At least that means my bird will be back in the air sooner.” She muttered. “So long as he doesn’t blow it up or smash it to bits before then.”

Toshi chuckled, then looked down to his bowl, which was empty. He could have sworn that there was still a few bites left in it before, but shrugged it off. “Well, my lunch break’s over.” He said, standing. “I’ll see you tomorrow, I’m heading back to oversee repairs to 23 and I’ll report in as soon as your bird is ready to fly again.”

“Thanks.” Ranko said, wiping off her hands and picking up both of their trays

“Wonder how loud Hibiki Sensie’ll yell?” Toshi muttered, heading for the door.

HR.

Ranko walked into her quarters, smiling. The day had been going relatively well, so far. She’d found that her squadron was populated, mostly, with people that wouldn’t be a pain to work with and she’d been informed that her fighter would be back in working condition in a few days.

Sitting down on her bed, she contemplated what to do to occupy the rest of the day, when she heard a soft beeping sound coming from her terminal. Reaching over slowly, she tapped the button and Admiral Dixon’s face appeared on the screen.

“Ben?” She asked, surprised.

“I wanted to see how things were going with Dana.” He answered, the ship’s super-luminal communications system managing to carry his image and voice with few errors. The lag time between the two officers was negligible, making useful two way signals possible, at least until the ship entered fold space later in the day

“Didn’t you call her?” Ranko asked, confused.

“Yes, and she seems fine… though you’ve apparently been showing off a bit.” Ben said, trying to look disapproving but not really succeeding in suppressing a grin.

Ranko shrugged. “Sorry, it’s part of what I do.” She said.

Ben’s face soon lost his amused expression, as he looked behind Ranko. “You do know you’ve got pictures of you and Lisa on display behind you, right?” He asked, casually.

Ranko blinked, and looked over her shoulder. “Yes…” She said, slowly. “These are my private quarters. I didn’t think I had to worry.”

Ben frowned. “And if she calls you like I did?”

Ranko winced. “Point taken.” She muttered. “Sorry, Ben. It’s gunna take me time to get used to the whole ‘Ranko’ thing again.” She explained. “Last time I did it was a LONG time ago, and I was hiding from my mom, not your goddaughter.”

“I understand.” Ben said. “Just try to be more careful.” He leaned forward eagerly. “But other than that, how’s Dana doing?”

Ranko laughed. “You sure she’s not really your kid?” She asked, before seeing Ben scowling at her. “I’ll just say she’s not as good as Max or Miriya were, but she’s got the potential.”

“I wasn’t talking about flying.” Ben muttered.

Ranko blinked. “Huh?” She asked, confused.

Ben just groaned, before a small message popped up at the bottom of the screen. “Attention, space fold commencing in three minutes. All communications will be terminated.”

“Look, Ben. We’re folding soon. I gotta go.” Ranko said, before reaching to cut the comm.. line.

“Wait, I…” Ben started, but Ranko had already hit the button. His face blinked off screen, and the words “Fold initiating” and a timer replaced it.

Ranko chuckled, but then sighed. Ben was right, and she would have to be more careful about what she did in order to keep Dana in the dark. Reluctantly, she repacked all of the pictures of her and her friends. sliding a small one of everyone at one of the surprise parties Kasumi insisted on organizing for Nabiki out of its frame, she slipped it into her wallet and stowed the frame away as well.

This was going to be a long trip, she thought, though she’d already known about that.

HR.

“Anything else?” Lisa Hayes asked, paging through a list of reports on the Tiger and her crew’s readiness for the space fold.

“Well, we’ve got one stow away.” Roy said, handing her another report.

“A stow away?” Lisa asked, looking at the information and blinking. “How’d he get onboard?”

“No one’s got an explanation for it, so I figure he just got lost.” Roy answered. “Someone tried to track him down to send him back to earth on one of our shuttles, but he’s disappeared again.”

Lisa smirked. “Chances are he’s back there already. She said. “He usually doesn’t stick around in one place for long unless Ranma or Minmei are there.” She frowned for a moment, Remembering Ranma. He’d sent her a message this morning stating that he’d left the Tiger. ‘He could have said goodbye in person.’ She thought, but then shook it off. “Well, it looks like we’re ready.” She finally said.

“Longest space fold jump ever made by a completely human made ship.” Roy said, smiling. “Feels almost like I’m in a VF-1 again.”

Lisa didn’t respond, merely getting up and walking out of the conference room behind the ship’s main bridge. “Does engineering report ready for jump yet?” She asked, looking towards the bridge’s operations officer.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” He said.

“Fold coordinates locked in, we can jump on your command.” The navigator reported.

“Good.” Lisa said, almost wanting to hold her breath. The day before, there had been a ceremony, taped and broadcast across the earth, for the ship merely leaving the orbital yards. Since it had done so many times before, she hadn’t really put much stock in the ceremony. It was ironic that, though it was shrouded in much less ceremony, this was the real start of her ship’s mission. “sound jump stations, Activate the fold drive.” She announced, before sitting down in her chair.

“Fold drive is ready for jump.” The OPS officer confirmed, nodding.

Lisa unconsciously settled herself more comfortably into her chair. “execute jump."

Immediately, the air around her seemed to become charged with something for a moment, before the ship lurched a little.

Outside of the Tiger, a white glow seemed to outline the entire ship, before abruptly spreading to fill in the outline. The white mass shimmered for a moment, and then vanished.

“We’ve entered fold space.” The navigator reported, sighing in relief. “ETA to our exit point, 4 days, 14 Hours subjective.”

Lisa nodded, before leaning back in her seat and sighing in relief. This fold jump had definitely gone much more smoothly than the first jump of the last large ship she’d been aboard.

HR.

“So, what is it you wanted me to look at?” Ryoga Hibiki asked, as Shiro lead him into one of the Ayanami’s work shops.

“Over here, sir.” The younger engineer said, gesturing to a VF-4 that was sitting in a maintenance slip in the corner of the room. Ryoga looked over it, noting the busted nose in an instant, and then allowed the other details of the fighter to become apparent… Including the designation.

“This is Ranma’s fighter. what’s it doing aboard this ship?” The lost boy asked

Toshi chuckled. “It’s assigned to a young lady named Ranko Tendo.” He confided.

“Tendo?” Ryoga asked, thinking. After a few seconds, his eyes widened. “Why the hell’s he doing THAT again?”

“Well, she told me it was because admiral Dixon wanted someone to watch Lt. Sterling.” He answered, shrugging. “I just find it kind of funny. So, are you willing to help me repair this thing, Sensei?”

Ryoga pondered for a moment, but finally nodded. “May as well, but I’m going to have to have a long… talk… with Miss Tendo later.” He said, cracking his knuckles and exposing one of his fangs.

Shiro merely smiled, walking under the gutted nose assembly of the Veritech and pointing out all of the structural problems he’d noted.

Ryoga was about to follow his lead, when he heard someone clearing their throat. Looking over, he saw a blond haired girl, maybe eighteen years old, looking at him sheepishly. “Excuse me, could you tell me where I am? I sort of got turned around during the fold alert, and no one was around.”

Ryoga just blinked at her for several seconds, before tapping on Shiro’s shoulder. “Where are we?” He asked.

“Maintenance bay 4, port, deck 6.” The younger man replied, having long since gotten used to Ryoga asking that.

“Thanks.” The girl said, quickly walking off.

HR.

“So, what do ya think?” Ensign Jeremy Blake asked, holding up the small image.

“I think you’re nuts.” The Soryu’s CAG, Amanda Sisko replied, looking at it. It showed the image of a short, red haired woman on one side, and a very well photo-rendered and animated version of the same woman, wearing a skin tight red suit on the other.

She was also wearing some sort of red clip to secure her pigtail, and standing in front of a giant, roaring red robot. She had to admit that the murderous look on the little redhead’s face definitely suited what she’d heard about Asuka Langley, but she still wasn’t sure.

“Come on, it’s perfect.” The lower ranking officer said, smirking. “With the ship’s name and everything, it makes sense.”

“The other guys put you up to this, didn’t they?” She asked, rubbing her temples.

He shook his head. “I talked them into it, actually.” He explained. “Marks has agreed to make the patches if I get your approval.”

“Have you asked the model of this thing?” She asked again.

He looked nervous. “Of course I did.” He said, quickly. “She didn’t have a problem with it, but the EVA had no comment.”

“Smart ass.” Amanda drawled, but sighed. “If all the guys agree, I really don’t see the problem, but it is a little weird, isn’t it?”

He shrugged. “Well, we need our own patch, or do you want us to keep the generic one?”

She nodded reluctantly. “All right, I approve the change, but I’ll have to inform Commander Fokker. Still given his sense of humor, I doubt he’ll object.”

“Thank you, Ma’am.” The Junior officer, part of Red Squadron, said before saluting and walking off.

Amanda just shrugged. “Why did we get all the weirdoes?” She thought, not knowing that she’d just set off a sneezing fit in the Ayanami’s hangar decks and crew quarters.

HR.

In deep space, Approximately 3 light days from the edge of the Sol system, a ripple seemed to develop in the fabric of space. Within seconds, a dozen extremely large ships ripped from the distortion, their small support vessels milling about them in a swarm. The fleet had come a long way to reach the earth, but the fact that the fleet was so massive, along with incorrect targeting data, had left them far from the planet. It would take them several months to reach the system.

Even still, the Robotech masters had arrived, and they were soon going to make life difficult for the system’s defenders.

END.

Ooh, Omenous. Bye, folks!