Gloval’s ship and crew had been tested in the flame and come through. The Robotechnology and the civilian refugees, likewise, had undergone a make-or-break trial.
No one had foreseen that an even more severe strain was to be put on Gloval’s own oath of allegiance.
“The Second Front,” History of the First Robotech War, Vol. LXVI.
THE GIANT FACE OF A COUNCIL MEMBER LOOKED DOWN AT LISA AS she set down her briefing book, her summary complete.
“That was a very comprehensive report, Commander Hayes,” the Council member, General Herbert, said. “But come now, don’t you think you’ve overestimated the enemy’s strength by quite a lot?”
Herbert disappeared, and the image of Marshal Zukav, silver-haired and silver-mustached, took its place. “Yes, I can’t help but wonder why these aliens didn’t destroy the battle fortress if they had such overwhelmingly superior numbers.”
Lisa, who’d seated herself, came to her feet again. Gloval said nothing, glaring up at the magnified faces around him, content to let his First Officer draw out the Council’s attitudes and arguments before he made his stand.
“I’ve already stated what we believe to be their motives in my report.”
Herbert was back. “You expect us to accept that report as the truth?”
Lisa growled, gritting her teeth, her hands bunching into fists, trying to keep her temper.
Then her father, Admiral Hayes, was staring down at her “That will be all, Commander; we’ve heard quite enough. You may resume your seat.”
“Admiral, I—”
But Gloval was on his feet now, with a calming hand on her shoulder. She held her peace.
“Gentlemen,” he addressed the Council, “what about the authorization for the requests that were attached to that report?”
Now Zukav glared down at him again. “The proposal to negotiate with the enemy and the plans to relocate the Macross City survivors?”
Herbert broke in, “We will discuss your requests in private session. You and your First will stand by!” There was a loud comtone, and all screens went blank, leaving Lisa and Gloval in a sudden silence in the dim, domed chamber.
Lisa’s fists were trembling. “Ohhhh! I can’t believe they treated us like this!”
Gloval lowered himself into his chair, head thrown back, eyes closed. “I do. I think we’ve lost the fight.”
“But—how can you know that already?”
“There’s something going on here that we don’t know about, Lisa. Their minds are made up.”
She gazed around at the darkened screens. “I wonder what they’re planning to do with us?”
* * *
Minmei’s father slammed his fist on the table, making the teacups jump. “No! You’re not going!”
“That’s right!” her mother added. “After more than a year we finally discover that you’re not dead; how can you think we’d let you leave?”
“To go entertain troops on some warship.” Her father sneered.
Minmei was on her feet, hands on hips. “Hah! Is that what you think I’m doing?” She stamped one little foot. “I’m not just some run-of-the-mill USO singer, you know! I’m an important person back there!”
Her father shouted, “Well, you’re not back there! You’re here, and I’m not letting you return, and that’s that!”
She threw her head back, eyes squeezed shut, shaking her fists. “No-o-o-o!” Then she went on. “I’ve got to go back! I’m doing a TV show, I’ve got a record coming out, and I’m going to be starring in a film! Isn’t that right, Rick?”
Rick was completely taken by surprise at the sudden shift of focus to him. “Uh, um—”
“Ridiculous! Your family comes first!” her father barked.
Rick was wondering about that, too. When he and Minmei were stranded, she had talked at length about all the love and mutual support there was in her family. It looked like a little celebrity could change a lot of things.
“I want to be a movie star!” she pouted, stamping both feet this time, just as her cousin Jason did when he threw a tantrum.
Her mother was weeping into a snow-white napkin. “How could you hurt us like this? You know we’ve always counted on you to get married and take over the Golden Dragon and run it with your husband.”
Married? Run the restaurant? Those were new wrinkles! Rick suddenly felt a little queasy at the very thought of giving up flying, even for Minmei. Maybe they weren’t destined for each other, after all.
“What about you, young man?” her father snapped. “What d’ you think about all this hogwash, eh?”
“Huh? That is—well—”
Minmei was furious. “I don’t see why you’re asking him! His opinion doesn’t count here! I’m the one making the decision! It’s my life, and I’m going back to the ship; I can’t turn my back on thousands of loyal fans and all the people I work with!”
Her mother sniffed and said, “But you’re turning your back on us.”
Score one for Mom, Rick thought; that shot had hit home, stopping Minmei in her tracks, at least for the moment.
But just when she might have yielded, a new voice interrupted. “Hey, what’s all the screaming about down here? I can’t even concentrate on my studies—hey! Minmei!”
He was about Rick’s age or a little older, tall, with straight hair as black as Minmei’s that fell past his shoulders. He’d stepped down out of the stairway—a slim, athletic-looking fellow, handsome but somehow sullen. Still, his face lit up when he saw her.
She flew to him, hugging herself to him. “Kyle! Oh, I can’t believe it! You’re here! I thought I’d never see you again!”
He laughed and held her close.
She spoke in a flurry. “We thought you died on Macross! We never found you in the shelters, or later on the SDF-1, so your parents and I assumed—”
He shrugged. “After my father kicked me out of the house for being in the peace movement, I figured it wasn’t such a good idea to stick around a military town. So I left the day before Launching Day.”
Rick was looking at him jealously. Kyle had a sort of inner balance, a calmness—unflappable and very self-possessed.
“When I tried to get in touch with you,” he was telling Minmei, “they told me that everything on the island had been destroyed and that it was off limits for good. Radioactive or something.” His face clouded with the memory, a sensitive and strong face.
“It was terrible.” She nodded sadly.
He took her shoulders. “Well, I’m glad you’re here; I’m glad somebody survived.”
“Oh, but your mom and dad are doing just fine, running the White Dragon!”
“What?” His grip tightened on her shoulders for a moment, powerful fingers digging in until he realized what he was doing and eased off. “They’re alive?”
She gave him a smile warm as a hearth fire. “Sure, silly; they’re on the ship.”
“Ship? What’re you talking about?”
She tched and explained, “The spaceship.”
“You mean you didn’t know?” Rick asked, wondering just how much covering up he was going to have to do.
Kyle was shaking his head happily, baffled but laughing. “No.”
“Most of us survived, even though we lost a lot of people.” Minmei told him. “This is Lieutenant Rick Hunter; he’s one of the fighter pilots from the ship.”
Kyle said, “Oh. Hello.” It sounded like he was greeting the lowest known life form.
Rick rose anyway, trying to be polite. “Hi.”
“Rick,” Minmei gushed, “this is my cousin Lynn-Kyle; he’s been like a brother to me. Kyle, Rick is the one who saved my life.”
“It was a privilege.” Rick shrugged.
Kyle’s expression was full of anger and resentment. “I thought soldiers were expected to aid civilians in times of emergency.”
Rick cocked his head to one side, trying to figure out what Kyle’s beef was. “Hmmm.”
“But we appreciate your efforts, anyway,” Kyle told him with a frown.
Minmei slipped an arm through Kyle’s elbow. “No, no: When Rick saved my life, he hadn’t become a soldier yet.”
Kyle was looking him up and down with narrowed eyes. “So you decided to join up later, eh?”
Minmei’s mother and father were watching the whole exchange without interfering; Rick wondered just what he’d gotten into the middle of. “That’s right.”
Kyle held his chin high, gazing down his nose at Rick. “What d’ you think’s so good about the military?”
Rick showed his teeth in a snarling smile. “Free bullets, free food… and it sure beats working for a living.”
* * *
“It’s getting late,” Gloval said grimly just as a comtone sounded.
Hours had gone by. In the interview chamber at the bottom of the Alaskan base, the screens flashed to life again. Gloval and Lisa looked up expectantly, wondering what the result of the deliberation was. The wall clock read nearly midnight.
General Herbert gazed down at them. “Captain, Commander—sorry to keep you waiting.” He didn’t sound sorry at all. “The Council has been going over your report, and we have found most of it to be accurate.”
“And what about my requests?”
“Captain Gloval, all negotiations with the aliens for an end to hostilities are flatly rejected.”
Gloval spat, “You think we can win against a force like that?”
“We don’t know whether we can win or not. The point is, we don’t understand the invaders’ thinking. We scarcely understand their Robotechnology. How can we begin peace talks with them?”
Gloval was about to interrupt, but Herbert pushed on. “We have no way of knowing if they would participate in good faith or simply ignore any treaty commitments and attack again when it suited them.”
“But—you must realize—” Gloval began.
Then Admiral Hayes’s image was front and center. “Captain, we think our Grand Cannon will protect us as long as we stay prepared and alert. We will not negotiate away that advantage.”
“Very well,” Gloval snapped. “I understand, sir. But what about resettling the fifty thousand or so Macross survivors?”
Herbert fielded that one, seeming irked that he would even ask the question. “They’ve all been declared dead, so having them leave the SDF-1 is out of the question, Gloval.”
Gloval shook his head slowly. “I don’t understand.”
Lisa shot to her feet. “Just what is it you’re saying?”
Herbert’s answer was acid. “Do you think we made an official announcement that we’re at war with aliens? Why, there would have been worldwide panic and probable insurrection by the peace factions!”
“They’d have been screaming for immediate unconditional surrender,” another Council member, Commissioner Blaine of US-Western, added.
Admiral Hayes’s image held the center spot again. “We invoked a strict media blackout from the day the SDF-1 disappeared, using the excuse that a guerrilla force of antiunification terrorists had attacked Macross Island and destroyed it after the ship left on its maiden test flight. Now, how could we let the tens of thousands of Macross inhabitants who know what a tremendous threat we face return to Earth?”
“It’s impossible!” Zukav threw in. “The government would be overthrown!”
Are they crazy or am I? Gloval asked himself.
For ten years, throughout the rebuilding of SDF-1, the world government had used the threat of alien invasion to justify their staggering defense budgets and its own ever-expanding influence. But when the Zentraedi finally appeared with power so far beyond anything humans had envisioned (except for a few hard-headed realists like Gloval), the Council had, in effect, become completely paranoid: They lied to the populace, hid in a hole in the ground, and simply prayed the menace would go away.
All for the sake of their political power base, all so that they could rule a little longer.
Gloval’s voice rose a few decibels. “We’re going to have a riot on our hands if we don’t allow those people to get off the ship! They’ve been through a lot and endured it gallantly, but now they’re safely back home and their patience is wearing thin!”
Herbert answered that. “Keeping them under control is your responsibility. And anyway, if, as you stated in your report, the aliens are so curious about our customs, then carrying an entire city within the SDF-1 should ensure that their attention is focused on it, don’t you think?”
“It’s crucial that you draw the enemy forces away from this planet!” Kinsolving, a bloodless-looking man with eyes like glass pellets, and from one side.
“At what price?” Gloval roared.
He felt very close to surrendering to his rage—perhaps going back to the SDF-1 and launching a little revolution of his own.
But he knew he wouldn’t, knew he couldn’t fire on innocent men and women who believed the Council’s lies and who would rise to oppose him—knew he couldn’t break the oath of allegiance he’d sworn.
He’d seen enough civil war; he knew he couldn’t start another.
Admiral Hayes was saying, “Captain, we’re not insensitive to your situation, but we must have time to strengthen our defenses and increase our knowledge of Robotechnology. And you’re the only one who can give it to us.”
Lisa cried, “Father, this is too much to ask of all those civilians!”
Hayes’s huge projected face glared down at her icily. “Commander Hayes, we may be father and daughter, but during these proceedings I expect to be addressed by my rank, is that understood?”
“Yes, sir,” she spit out the words.
“And what if the aliens decide not to follow the battle fortress?” Gloval posed the question. “What if they attack the Earth instead? You can fire your Grand Cannon until you broil away the planet’s atmosphere and make the surrounding land mass run molten, but you still won’t be able to destroy all those ships!”
Hayes answered, “Your own analysis indicates that that’s highly unlikely; the invaders are interested in your ship. You will receive your sailing orders in the morning. That is all.”
Again the screens went blank.
Gloval picked up his hat tiredly. I guess that’s the end of that.
“Captain, how are we ever going to be able to explain this to the people on the ship? Not just the survivors; the crew—they’ve been in constant combat for more than a year!”
Gloval had no answer. In the corridor outside, he asked, “Lisa, wouldn’t you like to spend some time with your father while you’re here? As family, I mean? I can authorize a brief leave…”
They came to an elevator to begin the long trip back to the surface. Lisa kept her eyes lowered to the floor. “No, sir. I have no particular interest in seeing him right now.”
“I understand, my dear,” said Gloval as the elevator doors closed.