Many thanks to James Axelrad for his hep with this.

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Ranma woke up with Lisa's body spooned comfortably behind her. In an effort to not wake up the older woman Ranma decided to leave the warm confines of the bed in favor of the cold solidarity of the couch.

Pulling her knees up to her chest she wrapped her arms around them to fight off a shiver. Resting her chin on her knees she lost herself in thought.

"What am I doing? For as long as I remember Honor was everything to me but even before I Came to Macross and got involved in this war I have been shirking my duties. And now I have become what my rivals have accused me of being. They were right all along… Enemy of women, indeed… I have three fiancées back in Nerima and here I am taking another relationship for my own selfish desires."

Biting down on her lip in an attempt to escape the torrent of emotions that flooded her whenever she thought about how much Lisa means to her she continued, "It may not be fair but I must do what my honor demands. But how am I to go about it? I am honor bound to serve this ship, I am honor bound to honor multiple engagements no matter what I want. And I am obligated to honor a commitment that I made as a small child to my mother. I had hoped that with the last one my mother would be able to look past the curse but that no longer matters. No what matters is the fact that I know that I can not be a man amongst men as long as I am cursed and with no known cure, I must accept that fact."

"How am I to go about this though, if I fulfill the pledge then I am balking at my oath to protect this ship. So by priority of obligation I must focus on protecting the ship. That means that I can no longer be burdened with these stupid emotions… If I am to do that then Ranko Tendo must die… How am I to go about that? I am obligated to contend in the Miss Macross pageant and by my honor I must take it seriously. So Ranko's death must come after Miss Macross. After that though what am I going to do? I have enough water proof soap to last for several months if I use it sparingly so that takes care of that."

"But what of Lisa? Honor does not care about selfish wants and desires… Still it wouldn't be right for me to end it in the morning. No she has worked hard with me on the pageant as well as taking her time to help me through with my problems. The least I could do was return the favor by giving her something in return. But what? She deserves to be happy… So I'll just spend the next several days doing my best to make her happy and then after the pageant is over I'll break it off. She might think she needs this relationship but I know she can do a lot better than me… yeah she'll thank me in the long run, besides I don't have a choice… Honor demands that I honor my other commitments."

"But how can I do that? There's no way I can marry three women. I guess that doesn't matter though… In the long run my first obligation is to my family and for honor to be upheld my life is forfeit. That will restore their honor and erase the tarnish that I have smeared them with…"

Shuffling slightly in her seat Ranma continued, "It's settled then, I will tell my mother about the curse but tell her that for honor to be completely satisfiedseppuku must wait until after the war is over."

"So my most immediate concern is to uphold my commitment to this ship and the people onboard. I need to be more effective, we are out numbered by at least a million to one. What can I do to even the odds? Train, My duty to this ship includes the duty to my command. I must ensure their safety in combat and to do that I have to make them better and more effective. That's the simple part; the remedial training is already set up I just need to amp it up. But then I still need to train myself. How do I do that? I know there are several techniques that I have seen but not yet attempted, like the technique that Happossi used to turn himself into a giant. That would be useful should I ever find myself onboard an enemy vessel without a veritech. Then there's the breaking point, if I can train myself to take more damage that will help."

"The problem is when do I start? I suppose I can start tomorrow morning with the training. Between that, patrols, any incoming battles, and spending these few last day's with Lisa my time is pretty much spent."

"Ranma?"

Breaking out of her musings Ranma cocked her head to spare Lisa a glance and said, "Over here."

"What are you doing out of bed? We still have five hours before either of us has duty." Came her groggy reply.

"I woke up and didn't want to disturb you."

"Well come back to bed, I'm getting cold."

As she complied Ranma let a small smile grace her lips as she brushed a tear away from her eye, she was going to miss Lisa, but knew in the long run it was the only option.

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Ten day's have passed since the battle in Pluto's orbit, clean up and repairs were finished for the most part. The workers in the Destroid manufacturing plant were working hard in an effort to perform the necessary upgrades assigned to them from the engineering staff. The clean up and salvage operations had been completed and repairs were either underway or completed.

In an effort to increase moral Captain Gloval had decided to hold an award ceremony honoring Ghost groups actions in taking out an enemy destroyer by themselves. It was to be held at 1600 hours, at the outdoor auditorium that was to hold the upcoming Miss Macross pageant.

Despite Ranma's more recent upbeat behavior Lisa was still worried about him. Even though these past several days had been more enjoyable than what she could remember in a long time, Lisa was still worried about her/him. That brings her to today in an attempt to help Ranma she was meeting was meeting with Roy and Claudia for lunch at the white dragon. The reason for her meeting was two fold; one part was to hopefully get some answers for Ranma, while the other was an attempt to clear away some honor issues involving the validity of her and Ranma's relationship.

While she cared about Ranma deeply she knew that by them having a relationship he was breaking several honor agreements and she was worried that when he started to actually come to terms with what they were doing he would back off. She knew that it wouldn't be because he wanted to though, no it would be because he realized that in order to uphold his honor he had to uphold himself to his other commitments. So now Lisa was waiting at the White Dragon for Roy and Claudia to arrive for a hopefully constructive 1300 hours lunch date while Ranma worked with his groups remedial training.

"Commander, can I get you some more coffee?"

Breaking out of her musings Lisa jerked up slightly, realizing that it was just Minmie she nodded and said, "Sure."

"How's Ranma doing?"

Wondering if she was that transparent Lisa asked, "What do you mean?"

Flashing Lisa a bright smile followed by a girlish giggle Minmie replied, "You know, with his preparations for the pageant, he must be really busy between work and preparing that he probably is going to leave things to the last minute to get ready."

Lisa offered the young girl a soft smile and said, "Actually, with the exception of getting a new swimsuit and choosing the song he's going to sing, he's pretty much set."

Blinking curiously Minmie said, "I would have figured that he would have put everything off to the last minute. Like how he usually winds up having to do."

Lisa shook her head and replied, "No, his mother and I put a stop to that right away, we told him how important this pageant is to a lot of young women and that he would not be doing them any justice if he were not to take it seriously."

Minmie giggled and said, "I wish I could have seen his face when you said that. I bet he started to get flustered and declared his manliness."

Lisa shook her head and reminded Minmie, "He couldn't, remember his mother doesn't know about the curse."

Minmie immediately sobered and said, "Sorry, I forgot about that." As an after thought she added, "It must be really tough on him. To see his mother and pretend to be some one else all the time, I don't know if I could take it."

Lisa nodded solemnly and said, "Yeah, I know what you mean. I've been trying to work on it but things just keep getting in the way." Deciding to change the Subject she asked, "So anything new happening with Lt. Hunter?"

Minmie Blushed and stammered, "It's been difficult lately, with Ranma putting him through training, Rick is too exhausted to do anything more than swing by for something to eat."

Lisa nodded, she was slightly aware of Ranma's change of heart on how to train his group but knew that in the long run it would only benefit them. Offering the girl a smile she said, "Yeah Ranma can be a task master when it comes to training."

Minmie stood up having realized that she had other customers, moving over, she gave the older woman a slight hug and said supportively, "I know, and I'm sure you'll figure something out eventually. You and Ranma look good together."

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Earlier, Roy was walking to Ranma's office to drop off three files. While it was true that Ranma was only a First Lieutenant, he had proven himself as being effective, both as a leader and in combat strategy.

It was his effectiveness in stopping the destroyer that was leading to him receiving a medal later that day. But it was his dealings of the events afterward that were leading to the addition of three new teammates. Ranma's orders in the events that directly followed the destruction of the destroyer showed that he was highly capable of commanding a larger group.

Roy was a bit wary though, he did not want to push Ranma too far and by making him responsible for three new teammates he was afraid of pushing Ranma further. The problem though is that he was not only Ranma's uncle but also the CAG for the SDF-1 and he had to do what was right for the ship.

But in this case what was right for the ship and right for his nephew did not coincide with each other. What was right for Ranma was long hours of counseling to overcome his personal problems. However, since said personal problems were no longer interfering with his duty, then as CAG, there was nothing he could do. Sure he could take Ranma off of flight status but then he'd have to do the same with a large amount of others. And as the CAG he was also forced to do what was good for the ship, and that was to give Ranma three new people to utilize in his command.

The only blessing in the whole mess was that even though he was giving Ranma three new people, he was only giving him one more veritech and a prototype. That still kept Ranma's group from being a full-fledged squadron and allowed him to limit Ranma's command without it being apparent that he was doing so.

Reaching Ranma's office Roy noticed that the door was open and it was empty, wondering where his nephew was, he stepped in the room and walked over to the doorway that connected Ranma's office to the squad room. Briefly he noted that Ranma seemed to have done some redecorating as his office was filled with the small desks that they used for briefing their pilots as well as the podium that the flight leader usually uses to stand behind as they gave their briefings. There were also several lockers and a few benches stacked in the corner.

Hearing loud noises coming from the squad room Roy knocked on the door. After a minute of waiting without an answer he opened the door and was shocked to see the sight before him. Ranma was standing in the middle of the room dodging blows from both Rick and Gary, while launching kicks and punches at various sized balls that were stretched across the room via bungee cords (A). It didn't stop there though; both Rick and Gary were dodging the balls and attempting to hit the balls as well.

Roy was so shocked at the sight that he didn't make his presence known, however that didn't stop Ranma from noticing him and calling attention on the deck. Resulting in both Rick and Gary snapping to attention and consequently getting hit with several balls that Ranma had sent rebounding at them causing the both of them to stagger forward a few steps as they both tried to regain their footing.

Calling, "At ease." Roy took a few steps forward and continued, "I don't even want to know." Gesturing to the room's new décor. "I just came by to drop off a few files for you to look at."

Taking a few steps forward Ranma asked, "What's that sir?"

"I got two new pilots for you as well as a technical sergeant that are being added to your group." Roy said as he handed the files over to Ranma.

Flipping through them Ranma asked, "What's with the Sergeant? I mean if he's not flying a veritech then I don't really have a use for him… Not that I'm complaining sir."

Leaning in the doorway casually Roy said, "Well if you look in the file you'll see that he is going to fly with one of your new pilots as a gunner. Your only getting one Veritech, it'll be a new model so it can keep up with you." Holding his hand up to stall off any questions he continued, "In addition to the veritech you are being given a prototype, it's modeled after the new widow maker design. It has the same missile armament as the destriod model but it carries four medium beam cannons."

Noticing Ranma's blank look at the new tech he added, "The beam cannons are the same ones that the aliens use on their battle pods. It also only has two modes, a flight mode and a walking mode, both are fast enough to keep up with you and the rest of your group."

Still flipping through the files while he listened Ranma asked, "When are they going to report? I have the next two-day's off to prepare for that… ahem… Thing."

Roy grinned slightly realizing that while Gary knew about the curse, Rick was still in the dark about it. Roy didn't mind that though, he realized that the curse was something private and that not all people were as accepting as others, though he also felt that Rick would be rather understanding about it, if not a bit wierded out at first. Shrugging his shoulders he said, "Well, they're busy moving into their new quarters right now. I suppose you could go to their rooms and introduce yourself… " Pausing briefly Roy rubbed his chin in thought and added, "Or you can have them all paged to come to your quarters, that way you won't have to rush around to get ready for the award ceremony today."

Ranma nodded and said, "Sounds like a good idea, you want to join us, I'll order pizza for lunch, my treat."

Roy shook his head and said, "Actually, I'm supposed to be meeting Claudia for lunch today, so I'll have to take a rain check."

Ranma shrugged and replied, "Your loss sir."

With his business taken care of, Roy offered a casual wave to Rick and Gary before nodding at Ranma before turning around and leaving.

Ranma looked around and said, "Okay, forty-five minute break then meet at my quarters for lunch."

Seeing them nod in compliance, Ranma made his way into his office to have his new team members paged.

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Hearing the door chime Ranma called out for the person to enter.

Rick stepping into the room followed by Gary let out a whistle, they were billeted at the old barracks and while their rooms were nice they were rather bland. Walking in Gary said, "Where's the can at? I got to take a leak."

Ranma pointed to the slightly open door and said, "In there, pizza's due any minute as well as our new teammates."

Gary waved him off casually and walked through the doorway. Taking a look around he noticed that Ranma's closet was wide open displaying a rather odd collection of clothes, well odd for anyone who doesn't have a water based gender changing curse. Thinking that Ranma really wouldn't appreciate it if Rick or the newbies found out about his secret or worse suspected something totally different he closed the door.

Ding

The pizza having arrived just after Gary went into the bathroom Ranma got out of his seat in the recliner and said to Rick, "This must be them."

Rick shrugged, as he was about to claim a piece of pizza and said, "Yeah probably."

Ranma opened the door as Gary stepped out of the washroom and blinked. He had expected the three new guys to arrive separately and not together.

"Lieutenants Max Sterling and Ben Dixon and Technical Sergeant Mike O'Malley reporting as ordered Sir."(B)

Ranma shook his head and said; "This is an informal meet, seeing that tomorrow when you are actually due to report I will be occupied and off duty, barring of course an attack."

Taking the lead Ben said, "Still, we wanted to make a good impression on our new CO.

Stepping aside and waving them to follow him Ranma replied, "Well mission accomplished. Though I did not expect to see the three of you arrive at the same time."

"Well actually Sir we all know each other. I was pulled out of Veritech flight school five days ago and partnered with Mike here for testing a new prototype." Ben explained.

That bit of news surprised Ranma; test pilots usually had a bit of experience or in his group's case were quite good. Assuming it to be the latter Ranma said, "Well you must have impressed them with your abilities then."

Ben blushed and stammered, "Err, actually sir… Don't get me wrong I'm a top notch pilot but… In the simulators I couldn't hit squat so they decided that I'd be perfect for this new bird."

Digesting that bit of news Ranma paused and said, "So I take it you are already familiar with the… Widow Maker."

"The Widow Maker Mark II interceptor version, Yes sir. Mike here is a top notch gunner."

Ranma nodded, that saved him the trouble of deciding who was going to fly what. Stepping to the side he said, "Rick, Gary these are Lt's Max Sterling, Ben Dixon and Technical Sergeant Mike O'Malley." Pausing for a second Ranma added, "Mike, we're kind of an informal bunch here so as long as there are no superiors present its just first name only."

"Thanks chief."

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As Ranma was getting to know his new teammates Claudia and Roy had joined Lisa at her table at the White Dragon. After everybody had placed his or her orders Roy spoke up and asked, "So, what's up?"

Lisa sighed and replied, "I'm worried about Ranma."

Concerned Claudia asked, "What's wrong?"

Looking around and noticing that there wasn't anybody nearby to ease drop Lisa said, "I'm not sure, it could be anything really, from his curse acting up to battle fatigue." Uncertainly she added, "I just don't know what to do to help him. He has taken to spending almost all his time with me in his cursed form. Not that these past several days haven't been great, actually they have been better than great and that has me worried even more. Ranma changed after the last battle and despite appearances I do not think that everything is 'All right'."

Roy curious because as far as he knew Ranma was doing fine and wasn't showing any of the grief that he had felt after the first couple of engagements asked, "What happened, I thought he looked alright when I saw him just a little bit ago. Plus I thought he held up rather well this last time, I mean he took out a destroyer by himself and didn't have any casualties in his group. He also managed twenty kills without functioning radar. Lt. Mitchell saw him right after the battle and said that Ranma looked fine, I even talked to Rick and he pretty much parroted the same thing except he added that during the battle Ranma remained calm and did his best to assure their safety after they got hit."

Lisa rubbed her hands together and said, "That's just it…" Noticing that her two friends wanted more she added, "When I found her later that night in her new quarters, I found her standing in front of a broken mirror, she was standing there watching the blood flow out of the cuts in her hand…" attempting to swallow her emotions she cracked out, "It's so hard to see her like that, she was crying and was calling herself a monster because he didn't feel anything as himself… that it wasn't until he shifted forms that it really hit her… I'm worried Roy… I'm worried for him… And I worried that once Ranma realizes the full consequences of us being in a relationship that we'll lose him."

Claudia took the now distraught women's hands into her own, giving them a reassuring squeeze she asked, "What do you mean, exactly?"

Sniffling softly Lisa said, "You know how Ranma is about his honor, well when we first decided to get together I… I sort of convinced him that we needed it, but now the thing is… is that once he fully understands that he has at least three fiancées and that by being with me he is slighting their honor… he'll end it and pull away from me and I don't want that…" Looking directly into Roy's eye's she continued stronger and more confident, "I… I think…. I think I love him Roy. It hurts so much inside to see him like this but I have to be strong for him."

Roy was stuck between a rock and a hard place, he knew certain things about the situation the were relevant but he also knew, though he could play it off as being Nodoka's brother, It would be best id he came clean. After glancing at Claudia, whom gave him a look that said he better talk, he cleared his throat and said, "Yeah, about that multiple engagements thing…" coughing slightly he continued, "See technically Ranma isn't engaged anymore."

Taking her hands out of Claudia's Lisa narrowed her eyes and asked, "What do you mean Roy?"

"Nodoka filed for divorce before after she left Nerima with Ranma. By the time we get back Ranma will no longer be Ranma Saotome, instead Nodoka changed his last name to Himura…" in almost a whisper he added, "When she took custody of him."

Laughing bitterly Lisa said, "Yeah, thanks for trying to make me feel better, I'm no lawyer, but we all know that for her to take custody of him she would have to know where he is. Plus, she would have to have some sort of evidence that he was being mistreated." Adding an after thought she said, "In order for that to happen she would have to know about the curse…" Noticing the serous grim expression Roy was giving her she trailed off into silence.

Seeing the confused betrayed expression on Lisa's face Claudia interjected, "We were going to tell you but…"

"YOU WERE GOING TO TELL ME!?!… IT'S NOT ME THAT NEEDS TO KNOW… WHEN WAS RANMA GOING TO FIND OUT… CAN YOU TELL ME THAT? CAN YOU? EVERDAY… EVERY FRICKEN DAY… I GO SEE HIM… AND EVERY DAY HE STARTS PULLING FURTHER INTO HIMSELF, SEPERATING HERSELF FROM HIM." Seeing all the stares directed at her Lisa attempted to calm herself, in a low growl she asked, "How long? How long has she known? Hell, how long have you known that she knows? Was it after the fold?" Seeing the sad looks on her friends faces she growled, "Before?"

Roy rubbed his temples, he knew if Lisa was this upset about this then things must be a lot worse than what he had thought. Sighing sadly he said, "Nodoka found out shortly after Ranma unlocked his curse. Lisa, it's important that you understand… Nodoka wanted to tell him but." "Genma" Roy spat angrily, "That manipulative bastard, had Ranma believing that Nodoka was going to kill him because of the stupid curse…"

"So, she could have just went up to Ranma and said, 'Hi Ranma, I'm your mother and I love you. Oh by the way forget about that stupid seppiku contract I was only joking." Lisa snapped angrily.

"That's the point exactly, if she went up to Ranma and introduced herself what do you think would have happened?" Roy paused, seeing that Lisa wasn't going to answer he continued, "I'll tell you what. Ranma would have went right back to Genma, then Genma would have taken Ranma and told him some sob story making himself out to be a victim… Then he would have turned Ranma against her and she would never see him again. The Tendo's weren't the only ones they could have stayed at, there were at least six other families throughout the wards of Tokyo for him to run to if things went south, it's just that Soun Tendo was actually Genma's friend so his family got first dib's and that's not even counting the other families like the Kuonji family that just haven't managed to track Ranma down."

Smiling sadly he added, "It was never supposed to go this far… the whole point of bringing Ranma to Macross was to get him out of his fathers influence and get him thinking for himself. I was supposed to work with him, to get him ready to walk up and tell Nodoka that he was her son… I'll admit, I didn't really agree with that part… I felt that she could have told him… Well… Look, you remember the first time that Ranma changed in front of us don't you? That look of utter horror at seeing his curse revealed to me?"

Seeing Lisa nod Roy continued, "Nodoka wanted Ranma to work past that. That's where I came in, it was my job to work with him and get him ready to confront her." Shaking his head he added, "If not for the events that happened at Launch day Ranma would have told her. I don't know what happened change his mind though I believe it has a lot to do with what's been going on with him. But after the fold things just got difficult, we were all swamped in work and Ranma began to withdrawal. The night of my promotion party Nodoka was going to confront Ranma, but because Ranma had misunderstood what Nodoka had told him, he brought you in disguise we decided to wait a bit longer. I'll admit it, since that night I have been keeping Nodoka from telling him. At the time I was worried about him falling further into depression so…."

Standing up at the table Lisa Glared at her two friends and said, "I think I've heard enough for now." Turning to Claudia she added, "Claudia, I don't know when you found out but I'm hurt that you didn't tell me."

Worried for her friend as well as feeling guilty Claudia asked, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to go find Nodoka, its 1335 now, I have until 1600 hrs to find her. When I do I'm going to drag her up to Ranma and force her to tell him. This has gone on long enough, Ranma's not going to get any better but if this keeps up he'll get a lot worse."

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Nodoka sat quietly in a darkened room staring at several items on a desk that she had long ago sequestered and hidden in the room. The room was Nodoka's hiding place onboard the ship, it wasn't overly large, it was just a room she had found a long time ago and since then has used it whenever she needed to get away and think without being disturbed.

The items on the desk were special to her. There was a picture frame containing a photo of her son covering one half and on the other was a picture of her technical daughter. Sitting in front of that, partially unrolled, was a piece of faded yellow parchment. On it contained an oath, an oath she never wanted nor asked for but an oath sworn to her by her bastard of a husband that kept her son away from her and despite not being flashed around still keeps her child at bay. The other item was a case, inside were family heirlooms to be passed down to the first-born Himura on their 17th birthday.

Normally Nodoka would not have such precious items lying about but today was a special day. See on this day seventeen years ago her son, the heir to the Himura family was born. As such today was the day that her son was to receive the family heirlooms as well as the blade of their ancestor, the family Sakabato once belonging to a long dead man whom had held a life somewhat parallel to that of her son. It was a priceless treasure and she had been keeping it locked up until she had come to Macross in an effort to ensure Genma never got his greedy paws on it. Sure Kenshin didn't have a curse nor was he engaged to more women than he could count. No it was their lives during the midst of war that were similar; both were efficient, deadly, brave and honorable, yet beneath it all lay a good heart.

It was in this room that Nodoka searched for an answer to the question that was her son. She wanted nothing more than to hold him and see him as he is and to let him know of how sorry she is for everything. She wanted him to see the love that she held for him all these years in the hopes of once again having a family. Over the years there were many times where she had believed herself not worthy of a family and not worthy of the son she had born, for to him she had done a great injustice and allowed a man no better than a common thug take him to raise him as he wanted. She felt that there is only so much the ignorance and desperation of her youth could excuse of her actions.

She knew that she did not deserve forgiveness for allowing things to get as out as hand as she had. She would be lucky in the end if her son even managed to speak to her again after becoming aware of all that has been kept from him.

With a forlorn sigh she sat up from her desk to seek out Lo Xian before going to watch the award ceremony. She realized that she couldn't watch from the stands but at least she could watch from outside. Wiping a tear from her eye she wondered if that was her fate, to watch her son's life from the outside looking in.

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It was presently a little after 1600 hrs and Ranma was standing front and Center on the auditorium stage with Gary and Rick directly to his right, while Captain Gloval gave his speech.

While he appeared to be at attention his mind was going over chi exorcizes. He realized that due to his new found disability to feel strong emotions in male form he was cut off from using emotional chi. Well he had thought so, it's turns out that while he can no longer use his confidence to gather his ki, but there is something else there that is available. Ranma had figured out that his ki was not made out of confidence; no confidence was just the trigger. He figured that his ki was just his increased life force and that the trigger just needs to be matched up to his overall emotional state. Well that was tricky, for Ranma he realized that in male form he didn't really experience one emotion over another, Infact the only emotions he felt were severely muted to the point where they just kept him from appearing to be some sort of android who is incapable of expressing himself.

That doesn't mean that he had been unable to find the trigger though, actually it was fairly easy. It turned out that the soul of ice had another stage to it, one that allowed a more concentrated use. Noticing that Captain Gloval had finished his speech Ranma turned his attention to his surroundings. After a few minutes he snapped to attention and saluted as Captain Gloval appeared in front of him. Dropping his salute he took the Captains outstretched hand and shook it.

Taking his hand back Captain Gloval turned and made his way down the line resulting in Lisa Hayes standing in front of Ranma to pin on the medal.

Lisa smiled at Ranma, despite how he felt on the matter she was proud of him. There is no telling what might have happened if he had not taken the destroyer out. Reaching forward she pinned the medal to his uniform and whispered, "You are a good man, no matter what you think."

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Onboard the Zentradi warship the fleet commander Breeti sat across from his chief military advisor going over the last of the data from the battle that took place around the ninth planet in the micronian solar system. Turning off his monitor Breeti asked, "What is your opinion?"

"My Lord, the Micronians continue to surprise me, their tactics are unusual but effective."

Leaning forward Breeti nodded and said, "Yes I have noticed that as well. It seems they are better versed in space combat than what we would expect from a race not to journey outside of their own system. The question, is what do we do from here? We need to draw them out into an open engagement to get a better grasp on their tactics. However I am rather unwilling to sacrifice more ships at this point until we have a better understanding of their tactics."

"A wise plan, my Lord… We are aware of their position…. Perhaps we should send a fleet to fold in, comprised mostly of carriers, have them unload their battle pods and then move out of range of their weapons. We do know that in the last battle the main Gun on Zor's ship malfunctioned."

"Yes that could work, by using the element of surprise we catch them unaware and while they are scrambling to defend themselves we move the carriers out of range forcing them to deal with our forces without the advantage of their main gun. They have already proven that they can handle 3 destroyers and two carriers worth of our troops… This time we need to send a message as well… Something that say's you cannot defeat us… Exidore, We will send five carriers escorted by three destroyers. We will not hold any in reserve; we will attack with the full 3250-battle pod compliment and overwhelm their defenses. If that doesn't work initially it will show them that they are dealing with a superior force that has far superior resources."

Exedore nodded, that was his assessment as well. Standing up from his seat he asked, "When do we initiate the attack, my lord?"

"We have ships on standby, we shall commence the attack immediately."

"Yes my lord, I shall send out the necessary orders."

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2000 hours

Ranma lit the last candle; she wanted tonight to be special. While the Miss Macross pageant was not taking place for two days, this night was going to be her last night with Lisa. Originally Ranma had considered the night before the pageant but she knew that she was going to busy steadying her nerves, consequently she asked Lisa to stay at her place for that night. It was odd, she wasn't really into the whole thing at first but after Lisa and her mother and even Gary talking about how important it is to a lot of women, Ranma felt that she would have to do the best she could as to honor those whom were contending.

The dinner was from the White Dragon and was currently stored in the microwave so she could warm it up at the last moment. Her coffee table was set up elegantly with a few roses in the centerpiece. She was wearing a nice but not overly elegant black dress that showed off a generous amount of cleavage with the matching black pumps sitting next to the door for easy access.

She felt bad about doing this but she wanted to feel Lisa one last time before it ended. There was no honor to it but she knew that her lost honor would be restored upon her death at the end of the war. It was the need to feel Lisa's touch that was driving her to this decision, and this was her last chance. Carefully wiping away a stray tear at the utter unfairness of her accepted fate Ranma made her way over to her new mirror in the bathroom to make sure she didn't ruin her make up.

While the motives behind her plan were less than honorable Ranma felt that she had nothing left to lose. She had already resigned herself to death once the war was over because it was the only way to preserve honor and adding one last sting wouldn't hurt or so she hoped. She supposed she should be faithful to the end so as to not dishonor anyone further but she also felt that she had this opportunity as a last right, so to speak.

"Hey Ranma I need to talk… what are all the candles for?"

"Crap." Ranma cursed to herself, Lisa had just arrived and she wasn't quite ready yet, plus her shoes were in the other room. Reaching down to her chest she straitened out her clothes and walked into the other room to great Lisa.

Lisa had just walked in the door and started, "Hey Ranma, I need to talk…" She trailed off as she took in the room's décor and amended, "What are all the candles for?" Before shaking her head stupidly, the placements on the table, the iced bottle of wine on the counter, everything screamed out ROMANTIC. She thought briefly that Ranma was going to exit out of the bathroom wearing an elegant tux to sweep her off her feet. She however was only mildly disappointed when Ranma sauntered out, sexily swaying her hips to add a bit of allurement, wearing a sexy black dress that wrapped around her feminine form that literally advertised, 'Take me now.'.

Ranma smiled to herself, She had caught Lisa unaware and surprised her. To her it did not matter that Lisa was still wearing her dress uniform, she thought she looked sexy in it. Especially the way the skirt made her legs seem like they went on for miles. Giving her best seductive smile, usually reserved for getting free eats; Ranma went over and gave Lisa a short but sensual kiss.

Blinking because Ranma had caught her off guard with the fact that she seemed sober and yet took the initiative Lisa just stood there flabbergasted until Ranma took her hand and led her over to the couch.

Ranma left Lisa to recover as she went to go pour the wine and take the diner out of its takeout boxes and onto solid red plastic plates. She sighed; it was hard to come across the 'good stuff' when almost everything fragile broke from being in zero gravity. She took the wine over first, handing Lisa's a glass as she set the bucket on the end of the coffee table. Taking her own Glass into her hand Ranma held it up and said, "Here's to the cutest Commander this side of Jupiter."

Lisa blushed mildly before raising a questioning eyebrow and playfully asking, "Oooh, and I suppose you know a cuter one on the other side?"

Ranma blanched, she had meant it as a playful compliment and hadn't wanted to spoil the mood."

Lisa saw the worried look Ranma had and giggled lightly before apologizing, "It's okay Ranma, I was just teasing… But honestly I'm a bit overwhelmed, what's the special occasion?" Lisa was torn, she wanted to tell Ranma about her mother knowing about the curse but she wanted Nodoka to be there for it. But on the other hand she didn't want to ruin Ranma's impromptu romantic evening.

Coming back with two plates of food Ranma replied nervously, knowing that she was going to lie, "There's no special occasion. I just thought of all that you have done for me lately and I wanted to do something special as a thank you."

Lisa could tell that there was more to it but let it drop in favor of saying, "Ranma, I found something out today that you should know but the thing is I don't know if I should tell you now or wait until I can get a hold of the other persons involved."

Sitting down next to Lisa, Ranma shrugged and replied, "It can wait, I want this night to be problem free and just between us, nothing else okay/"

Lisa turned her head and gazed into Ranma's blue orbs and hesitantly replied, "Okay, Tonight, it'll be just us no other distractions."

Ranma smiled giddily and said, "Good, now eat your dinner before it gets cold." Pausing briefly for dramatic effect she playfully added, "The sooner you finish the sooner we can move on to dessert."

Flirting back at the redhead Lisa said, "Oh, and what might that be? Hmmm."

Ranma grinned and answered coyly, "Strawberry ice-cream with real strawberries… Then if you're good maybe I'll let you have the second dessert."

Having been in the middle of taking a sip of wine Lisa nearly snorted said drink out of her nose. "Did Ranma just insinuate what I think she did? She's not drunk, well at least I don't think so. Did she hit her head? No, don't see any lumps anywhere. Maybe she isn't as bad off as what I had thought. Then again this past week and a half have been great in-between us. Maybe she is ready for the next level, I mean we've been sleeping together in the same bed for awhile now." Taking a bite to eat Lisa decided to just let the metaphorical chips land as the may.

Ranma not wanting to eat in total silence, lest the guilt that she was feeling for what she was going to have to do in two days time, decided to make a bit of small talk and said, "I would have made dinner myself, but I only know how to make simple things and a few desserts."

Not wanting to offend Lisa replied, "This is fine Ranma, you remembered my favorite. Plus you managed to pick out my favorite ice cream without me telling you… Though I am a bit curious about how you managed to learn how to make desserts and not anything more complicated than a simple meal."

"Err… actually, I sort of learned how to make desserts after I got the curse. You wouldn't believe the sweet tooth this body has." Ranma said with a blush.

Lisa giggled, she figured for Ranma that was an understatement because she was fully aware of her sweet tooth, as well as a bit jealous about how she could actually eat the things.

Throughout the rest of dinner and dessert the two maintained idle chitchat about a number of small minuscule things. Ranma, not wanting anything more than a slight buzz, carefully monitored her intake of wine to ensure that she would be in a position to remember every little detail about what was going to hopefully happen.

With dinner and dessert finished with Ranma found herself uncertain of what to do next. She had never really been one to take the imitative before and the bulk of her dating experience came from her dates with Lisa. Attempting to wing it, she made her way back to Lisa, as she had just cleared off the coffee table, and decided to sit in her lap. Wrapping her arms around the taller brunettes neck, she leaned up and planted a soft kiss on Lisa's lips, nibbling softly on the lower lip as she withdrew.

Shifting Ranma's legs across her lap, Lisa took one hand and ran it up Ranma's thigh, while the other slid up the redheads back. Leaning forward Lisa returned Ranma's kiss, with one of her own, this time offering a bit of tongue.

Ranma moaned in ecstasy enjoying just the simple pleasure that the kiss combined with the ministrations of Lisa's hands were doing to her. Unsure of what exactly to do with her hands Ranma brought one up Lisa's back while the other fumbled clumsily around Lisa's breast.

Lisa smiled as she pulled back, she realized that Ranma had not had a lot of practical experience, that was alright in her book, patting the younger girl on her butt Lisa said, "Up, I think we should take this over to the bed."

Ranma went to comply quietly and started to make her way over to the bed. However before she even got halfway there, Lisa put her hand on her shoulder and huskily asked, "Where do you think you're going?"

Ranma turned around blushing; she thought that Lisa wanted her on the bed.

Wrapping Ranma in her arms Lisa gave the redhead another intense kiss, while her hands moved to unzip the back of the dress. Pulling back Lisa slid the dress off of Ranma's shoulders causing it to pool on the floor, revealing Ranma's lacey black thong with matching bra.

Taking a step back to admire the sight before her Lisa said, "It's your turn, sexy."

Ranma took a step forward, after delivering another kiss she started to attempt to find the means of relieving Lisa of her clothes.

Noticing that Ranma was having problems Lisa took a half step back. Seeing the confused face on the redhead she assured her, "It's okay, Ranma. Here let me help." Taking Ranma's hands into her own she began to guide them across her body, slowly stripping herself of her uniform.

Now it was Lisa's turn to be nervous, as Ranma looked her over. Had she known what Ranma had planned for the night she would have went home and changed first. Instead she was caught off guard on a laundry day with plain white cotton panties and a mismatched flowered bra. But seeing the silly look on Ranma's face she realized that she probably could have been wearing granny panties and the redhead wouldn't have cared.

Making sure that Ranma got an eyeful Lisa said, "Now we go over to the bed."

Walking backwards Ranma fell onto the bed. As Lisa climbed on top or her she whispered lovingly in her ear, "Are you sure about this? Once we do this, it's done."

Ranma nodded eagerly and replied, "I want you to know that no matter what happens… that… this body belongs to you." Pausing briefly she added quietly, "And if you want there's a packet already mixed with cold water next to the bed."

Turning her head to look at the nightstand Lisa noted that, sure enough there was a large glass of water sitting there. Unsure as to whether or not she wanted to do that she replied softly, "We'll see how this turns out… and go from there." Letting her passion consume her she left a trail of kisses down Ranma's feminine form.

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2143 hours

Ranma screamed out in pleasure as another orgasm ripped through her body.

Lisa grinned slyly and stated, "You ain't seen nothing yet."

Ranma grinned from her position underneath Lisa, shook her head and said, "Na uh, it's my turn now."

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2215 hours

Nodoka had returned to her hiding spot. She had been wandering almost the entire evening trying to decide what she was going to do. If she went by tradition, then she would have to tell Ranma tonight. She shook her head, it was a lousy excuse and she knew it. She just couldn't bear it any longer; she wanted her son back, more so she wanted him to know that she loved him. Deciding to risk the consequences she gathered up the items on the desk once again and set out to Ranma's room.

2237 hours

Lisa looked up to the wrecking ball that was Ranma and gasped, "I thought you never did this before."

Sliding across Lisa's form Ranma purred, "I had a good teacher."

Raising an eyebrow Lisa grinned and shot back, "Only Good?"

Ranma smiled at her and softly whispered, "I wasn't kidding earlier…" Taking Lisa's hand into her own and placing it upon her heart Ranma continued, "What ever happens… this is yours."

Touched by the gesture Lisa went to sit up slightly so she could kiss Ranma but was stopped by the red head placing her finger on her lips and softly saying, "You could use that water over there… I don't want to force you to do something you don't want to do… and if you're not ready, I'll understand… It's just that… You know I don't like any man right?"

Lisa nodded

"But, there have been times where I wasn't quite able to defend myself properly… I know that there is almost no possibility… But I want you to have this, as well so just incase I know that I gave myself to… To someone that I care for deeply…"

Laughing lightly as her eyes misted over Ranma added, "I know it's silly and irrational, I guess I just want to show you how much you really mean to me."

Lisa stopped the girl from ranting with a embrace, pulling back to gaze into Ranma's eyes she said, "Are you sure? Just remember, if at any time you feel uncomfortable say stop and I will."

Ranma nodded not trusting her voice, because there was a small part of her that screamed out for her to stop. That it wasn't necessary, but she knew that she needed to do this. Before she forced the female side more commonly known to Ranko into self imposed oblivion she wanted the body to have a chance to live, and she wanted that chance to be with Lisa.

Lisa slid out from underneath Ranma and sat at the edge of the bed, after taking a few deep breaths to calm her nerves and steady her resolve, she reached over for the large glass. Giving one more look down to Ranma she up ended the glass over her head, shifting her form into that of a male. Pausing for a second to gather his bearing Lisa rose off of the bed, after spinning around he asked, "SO, how do I look?

Ranma scrunched her nose up and responded truthfully, "Gross."

Feeling slightly put off Lisa frowned and was about to say something when Ranma cut her off.

"It's weird, I know its you but even before I never really looked at you… and that…"

Putting his hands on his hips Lisa said, "We don't have to do this, it's your idea remember?"

Ranma shook her head and crawled to the edge of the bed, taking a hold of Lisa's now much larger hand she said, "I know and I want to. Just let me lead for now."

Lisa nodded and allowed him to be pulled back onto the bed.

At first Lisa was enjoying himself as Ranma started kiss him but then he noticed that Ranma was treating his body as if it was still a woman's and it was starting to get awkward. Gently grasping Ranma's fumbling hands Lisa said, "How about If I lead and you relax and enjoy the ride."

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2302 hours

Nodoka had arrived outside her son's door; she had taken her time to arrive, using the extra moments to go over what she was going to say. Taking in a deep breath, she reached for the door chime and pressed it firmly.

Ding

Lisa cursed; she had just turned on the shower and changed forms and was hoping for a decent shower. While the experience had been fun and informative, it had also been weird as well as awkward.

DING

With a sigh Lisa realized that Ranma was in no condition to get the door, stepping out of the shower and pulling out a towel to quickly dry off her damp form. That done she stepped out of the bathroom to shrug on some clothes as the Chime rang again. Nearly falling over in her rush, she gave an exasperated sigh directed to Ranma and said, "You know, you could have answered the door while I was in the shower.

Not moving from her position Ranma whined, "But you were already up and I was comfortable."

Growling in not quite mock irritation Lisa opened the door slightly as to keep Ranma's indecency hidden and stopped.

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Nodoka had almost given up and turned around, she had thought that even if Ranma had been asleep he would have woken up and opened the door by now. As she turned away though the door opened revealing Lisa Hayes. Nodoka knew about her sons and Lisa's relationship but had never really put much thought into it other than it being a good thing. However seeing Lisa open the door with her hair soaking wet and her clothes showing that she had not taken the time to dry off properly uncovered a whole new light to it. She might not have made the same assumption had Ranma opened the door but now she was wondering where exactly her son was.

Lisa stood there for a minute in shock; she had not been expecting to get caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Forcing herself to move, as well as thankful that neither of them had said anything, Lisa quickly stepped out of the room, careful not to let the door open to wide lest she reveal Ranma in her current state. After closing the door she regarded the woman momentarily before hissing, "What are you doing here?"

Nodoka looked offended before deciding to cut the woman some slack. She was about to reply but was cut off by Lisa.

"I was looking for you almost the entire afternoon, I even had you paged."

Nodoka briefly wondered what could have happened that the xo had needed her before answering, "I was out of the office, and I needed to think about a few things."

"Well while you were out, 'thinking' I had the most enlightening conversation with your brother."

Nodoka paled slightly before getting defensive and snapping, "What would you have had me do? You only know what that place was like from second hand information, and believe me Ranma downplays it quite a bit. I was there and I did not like what I had seen."

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While the two women argued outside of the door Ranma had grown impatient and cold. Pulling a blanket around her chilled form she made her way over to the door wondering whom Lisa could be talking to for so long. Not wanting to embarrass Lisa by her current state of undress Ranma decided to put her ear to the door to find out what was going on.

She couldn't here everything they were saying but a few things were apparent. Her mother was there, it was her birthday, and she knew about the curse. But what was also apparent was that Lisa knew she knew and had hidden it from her. Bonelessly she slid away from the door and huddled in the corner. Never in her life had she felt as betrayed, and empty as what she did at that moment.

As she thought about it, it only made sense. So far for par, her life was like a broken record of lies and deception. Why should the only two women that she truly wanted acceptance from be any different than the others?

As tears leaked down her cheeks Ranma realized that sooner or later the two would finish their argument outside and come in and she did not want them to see her as she was. Leaving the blanket where it was she went into the bathroom and locked the door. Climbing into the bathtub Ranma slunk down into a ball and turned the water on. Though she did not want to feel her heart breaking, she also wanted to remember the pain and betrayal she felt so as not to make the mistake again.

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Lisa stepped into the room gingerly, knowing that she had been outside for several minutes arguing with Ranma's mother. Upon reentrance she noted the discarded blanket by the door and hear the muted sounds of the shower. Not knowing how much and what Ranma heard Lisa made her way over to the door. With a soft knock, she announced her presence to the bathrooms occupant before testing the knob and calling out softly, "Ranma… Ranma, honey are you okay?"

Ranma stifled a tear when she heard Lisa's voice. To her it wasn't fair; she had thought that Lisa had wanted her for her and not for some plot to drag her away from her old life. It seemed to her that everyone had been manipulating her, moving her one way while they stared and laughed at the freak. Then she realized what she had done, not quite an hour before and felt shamed. She had wanted to give herself fully to Lisa, so that when she was forced to do what honor demanded she would have at least known what she thought was love in it's most intimate form. Now she realized the folly of her reasoning, she was a joke, and a freak, why should she expect anything different as it was for par with her life.

"Ranma, when you are done in there, Nodoka and I want to talk to you. You probably heard some things by the door and are feeling upset right now but it's not as bad as what you think." Lisa attempted to reason.

That made Ranma angry, why did everyone think she was an idiot? It does take a level of intelligence to excel so well at martial arts. Plus scrolls, the good ones, are often in older languages that have subtle differences between their modern counterparts. Sure she wasn't entirely book smart but she tried. And before Lisa she had been completely ignorant of a lot of the interpersonal dynamics between men and women. But she learned at an impressive rate, and despite her accelerated flight school she still had to take the written tests before her Uncle would let her in a veritech solo. Choking back a sob Ranma raged, "TALK ABOUT WHAT? TALK ABOUT HOW YOU USED ME? ABOUT HOW EVERYONE LIES TO ME? ABOUT HOW I WAS TRICKED INTO LEAVING THE ONLY HOME I HAVE EVER KNOWN TO COME HERE AND BECOME A WALKING SIDESHOW AND MONSTER?"

"Ranma, you don't understand…"

"UNDERSTAND… OH I UNDERSTAND ALRIGHT. YOU WANT ME TO GO OUT THERE AND OPEN UP, SO YOU ALL CAN LAUGH AT ME BEHIND MY BACK. I'M JUST YOUR FRIDAY NIGHT SITCOM. NO MORE. NO MORE, DO YOU HEAR ME. I'M NOT GOING OUT THERE. I'M NOT GOING TO 'OPEN UP,' ANY MORE. "

"Ranma please, you don't understand. I just found out today. And your mother here came to set things right… I don't agree with her actions but please Ranma come out so we can talk about this." Lisa pleaded.

Ranma didn't want to leave the safety of the shower, if she did and Lisa was right then she might have misinterpreted Lisa's words. See what Ranma had at the moment was a means to an end, she could walk out that door and discover the whole truth or she could remain in the shower, unaware to the full situation and be free to continue out with her predetermined plan. In many ways she wanted to know the truth and the motivations behind them. However, by remaining ignorant she was free to continue along her predetirmed path. She figured staying was the best option, as it gave her an easier out with Lisa and would make it easier when the war was over, if she lived that long. After all, how could she possibly be manly, there were bloodstains on the sheets to say otherwise.

It was at that time that the ships Klaxons went off signifying a red alert and that an attack was emanate. Ranma wasn't sure if she could be thankful or not as she reached for the knob to change the temperature of the water. She did pause briefly wishing that he was more capable of feeling emotions than what he was, because blowing stuff up can always do wonders for ones state of mind.

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Lisa and Nodoka both cursed inwardly as the Klaxons went off, neither of them could afford to wait for Ranma to exit the bathroom as they had duties to perform.

Reining in her emotions at her current social dilemma Lisa grabbed her dress uniform started to make her way to the bridge, but not before stopping at the bathroom door once more and saying, "When this is over Ranma, you, me and Nodoka are going to sit down for a nice long talk and get this whole situation sorted out. I want you to know that I love you, even when you're being stubborn."

Nodoka who had taken a moment to set down the items she was carrying went to the door as Lisa left and said, "I know I messed up…. I'm sorry; it was never supposed to go on this long… Son, I just want you to know that I love you and that I will abide by any decision you make… The items I left next to your bed are yours, if you let me I'll explain them to you when you're ready." Turning from the door Nodoka started on her way down to engineering and softly added, "Happy birthday my son."

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Walking onto the bridge, after hitting his head on the hatchway, Captain Gloval barked, "Report."

Lisa whom was out of uniform at the moment said, "Sir, night shift reported that ten minutes ago eight ships folded off of our starboard bow and commenced unloading battle pods, while staying out of range of our main weapons. Veritech squadrons are launching as we speak, the Destroids are being moved into positions and the auxiliary reflex cannons are charged. ETA of enemy forces two minutes."

"How many are we dealing with commander?"

"Sir, at this time I am not able to give you a proper estimate, the radar is being overwhelmed. We know that the SDF-1's radar can only track 1500 vessels at a time, so by a rough estimate I would say at least double that sir."

"Commander Grant, do you have a firing solution on any of the enemy vessels?"

"No sir. At the moment they are all out of effective range."

Captain Gloval walked up to the tactical display and frowned, there were too many enemy battle pods out there for the veritechs to handle alone. Pointing to the screen he said, "Tell all our forced to evacuate quadrant 3 sections 2-9. Focus the two auxiliary reflex cannons in this area. Coordinate with Col. Fokker, tell him to pull out of any area that's in danger of being over run , then we'll fire the guns into the area mopping up the enemy forces. Hopefully we can weed out some of their forces, and let the Veritech squadrons pick off stragglers."

"Aye sir."

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Ranma had just been launched out of the SDF-1, followed closely by his group. Switching to the tactical net he called, "This is Ghost one to skull one. Where do you want us, Sir."?

"Ghost one I want your group to assist in Quadrant 4."

"Roger that sir." Ranma spared a glance over his shoulder to check on his new additions; Max was flying a veritech with a matching paint scheme with Ben Dixon on his wing. Momentarily checking the machine out Ranma realized that it was almost triple the size of a Veritech in flight mode, it's front arms were moved to the underbelly, with the rear four arms staggered along the body, it's legs folded up and connected making it look like it had stubby thick wings. Switching to his groups channel he said, "We're heading out to quadrant four, stay in formation and watch out for friendly fire.

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Once in position Ranma noticed, that while the enemy was attacking in staggering numbers, they were too bunched up in places to be effective. Turning his comm. On so where he was broadcasting a constant signal he said, "Guy's, only use your missiles for the groups that are flying in close formations. I want you to use your pulse lasers and GU-12's on the stragglers, try to use the lasers primarily though. There are a lot of enemy battle pods out here and we need to make our ammo count."

"Sir, as long as it counts then there's no problem, right?" Asked an unsure Max.

"Yeah, just try to save the missiles for the groups. We're going to have to break formation, I want you guy's to remain in constant contact and try not to stray too far from your wing man."

Ranma, not having a wingman due to the odd number in his group decided that he would be best suited in the swarm. Punching his thrusters he flew into the mess with his lasers blazing and every so often firing off a missile in attempts to take out larger groups.

Ben saw the actions of his Lt. and was amazed as several battle pods began to explode in Ranma's line of fire. Not wanting to be left out of the action he punched his thrusters and shouted, "Ye haw, come on max."

From the corner of his eye Ranma caught the opening salvo from the Widow Maker. He was impressed, as a large group of battle pods ceased to exist. After taking out a few more battle pods Ranma checked on the rest of his group with his computer so as to see how there munitions we doing.

Rick and Gary were both doing fine as the two of them had remedial training to boost their hand eye coordination. Ben and Mike were fairy a bit worse as the Widow Maker is made to fire several missiles at a time, luckily though it had the benefit of having a larger Missile compliment as well as four medium sized beam cannons that seemed to be fairly effective. Max was nearly out of ammo, though he seemed to amass a large amount of kills in the short time that they had engaged the enemy.

Noticing that the other two squadrons in his sector were starting to be overwhelmed Ranma gave his groups the order to fall back so they could call in a firing solution.

"Ghost one to SDF-1 command, over." Ranma called over the tactical net.

Lisa sighed at her station, she always had a hard time hearing Ranma in combat as his voice over the speakers were so cold and devoid of excess emotions especially when she knew that Ranma was a passionate person. Well, he used to be, before the fold, one could tell his emotional state just by looking at him. But now, he was so different and after the events before the battle his voice seemed colder than usual. Flicking on her comm. She replied, "Ghost one this is SDF-1 Command, we read you over."

"Command, the other two squadrons are in danger of being over run and I'm having my group fall back to re group before we do another pass. Requesting that you fire on our position, over."

Lisa turned her head to Claudia and asked, "How long until you have on firing solution on their position?"

Taking her eyes off of her screen momentarily Claudia answered, "Three minutes forty seconds, it's the best I can do two other sectors are being overwhelmed and they are a higher priority."

"Ghost one, we have a firing solution, three minutes thirty three seconds and counting. Try to hold out a bit longer."

"Roger command, Ghost one out." Ranma replied over the comm.. Turning his attention to the flow of battle information running across his view screen Ranma Flicked on his groups Comm. and said, "We have to hold out or a little more than three minutes. What we are going to try to do is herd as many of the enemy into position, to make it easier on the SDF-1. Form up on me, standard X formation…"

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After the battle and recovery operations Ranma rushed through the final briefing with his group. The reason being that he did not want to have to deal with Lisa or his mother at the moment and knew that the longer he took the more likely he would run into them.

Moments after dismissing his group Ranma entered his quarters, noting that no one else was there he would have sighed with relief, well he would have if he had not been so deeply entwined into the soul of ice. Walking into his closet he grabbed a suitcase and travel pack and began to load them with the clothes he needed for the pageant as well as several uniforms. He figured the best way to deal with Lisa and his mother at the moment was to just distance himself away from them. So he was going to check into a hotel in Macross City for the time being.

Setting one of his suitcases next to the door as he went to pack another one Ranma noticed a bag that wasn't his sitting on the counter in his kitchenette. Turning a cursory glance to it Ranma approached it.

After staring at the bag in question for a few seconds Ranma allowed his curiosity to get the best of him, so he opened it. Reaching in he pulled out a long bundle wrapped in silk, he didn't need to unwrap it to know what it was. He figured that his mother must be calling in the contract but was waiting for him to decide when he was ready. Taking the still bundled katana in his hand he walk in to his closet and set it on the top shelf to where it was put away. Figuring that that was the only thing of importance in the bag on the counter he resumed his packing at a slightly faster pace.

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Ranma walked out of one of the three hotels within the reconstructed Macross city. He wasn't sure what was more surprising, the fact that there were three hotels inside of a spaceship that wasn't due to have any visitors with a need for a hotel, or the fact that two of the Hotels seemed to be fully booked.

He reasoned that due to the Hotels central location that a lot of the Miss Macross contestants were staying at them out of convenience, plus there were likely a few people whom still might not have rooms in the Barracks yet. There was also the possibility that some of the soldiers aboard had booked a room because they were enjoying a few days off of the duty rotation

Re-settling his pack on his shoulders Ranma grabbed his other suitcase and made his way to the last hotel in the city.

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In the bridge briefing room, the last briefing of the day way in progress. Sitting at the head of the long narrow table sat Captain Gloval wearing a contemplating frown. The battle on their side had been costly, as all battles are when you have no ready means to re-supply or take on new crew.

Overall, everyone preformed to his expectations, Engineering had managed to stabilize the output of the supplementary Reflex cannons and after adjusting their dispersal pattern they were able to take out large clusters of enemy battle pods. There had been some hull damage, but nothing major. The Destroid defenders had done their job and kept any enemy forces off of the hull of the ship.

The Veritech squadrons, with their upgrades had functioned beyond expectation considering how badly they were outnumbered, even with the SDF-1 taking out as many of the larger clusters that they could.

The reason behind his frown was the tactics that the enemy had shown in the battle. They had come in, and began to drop off, what the intelligence division reasoned to be their full compliment of battle pods. Then just moved out of range, while unloading the remainder of their forces as they moved along.

No matter what it meant, it was a bad sign. While engineering theorized that the SDF-1 was not designed specifically for ship to ship combat, it was still quite able to stand toe to toe especially with the additions of the two reflex cannons. Captain Gloval knew that if the Zentradi were to avoid direct ship to ship confrontations and just used their smaller crafts for battle, then there was a high probability that they would lose in the long run. It was unfortunate that there was not a lot of space debris to keep them hidden while they journeyed back to earth, as it would be easier to avoid the enemy rather than have to battle the way back to earth.

Originally when the SDF-1 was set to leave earth it was stocked with enough munitions and supplies for 30 day's of sustained combat, well thirty day's of what their scientists thought would last for thirty days. This conflict showed that their estimations were off and even with the new advancements and smaller munitions they only had supplies for 32 day's of sustained combat. That estimation is based off of end-of-battle recovery operations, without those supply reasoned that they might very well run out of supplies within fifteen battles. Unfortunately at the time there was nothing that could be done, perhaps when they get closer to earth something will come up to remedy the situation, he wasn't going to hold his breath though.

Supply conflicts aside, the enemies newest battle strategy had him contemplating a means to combat the hit morale was going to take if the enemy proved to be relentless in their assault. While the enemy had sent no verbal message, he was well aware of the unspoken. It said, feel our might and surrender to our superior resources. Well he had been listening and had received the message.

Now the only problem was how to combat the message. There are after all more ways to win a war than to just blast your enemy into oblivion. Moral for the men and ship in general were key to combat the message. Captain Gloval pondered for a few minutes as Colonel Maistroff was going on about how his men need to be re-outfitted again because he wanted front line units.

Once Maistroff finished, having received a promise from engineering that they would look into it, Captain Gloval cleared his throat and said, "One last thing before I dismiss you to your duties… I have decided that we are going to broadcast civilian radio and tv broadcasts out into space so that our enemy can pick them up, as stealth is no-longer an option."

Holding his hand up to stall off any incoming questions he continued, "Whether we like it or not our morale is going to take a hit and one of the means to combat this is to show the enemy just whom and what they are attacking. Furthermore, along this line I have decided that I shall host either a radio or television show every night and after every battle. During this time I will cover the casualty reports as well as general non-classified ship news. What I hope to accomplish is something along the lines of former United States Presidents Roosevelt's fireside chats. It is my hope that this will help to increase morale ship wide showing everyone that the Captain does care."

After taking a moment for his plan to settle in the minds of his officers Gloval continued, "What I am going to need from you is listings of non-secret information that I can share with the ship's populace, it can be anything from birthdays to new innovations for the people of Macross." Turning his head to look at his second officer he added, "Claudia, I'm going to need you to set this up with all the broadcasting stations onboard as I would like to be on the air on all channels at the same time. See what best works for them and go from there."

After jotting down a few notes Claudia replied, "Yes sir, I'll have something for you by the end of the day."

"Very well. Anything else that needs to be brought to my attention?" Receiving several No sir's Gloval stood and said, "Alright, if there's nothing else, then you are dismissed to your duties."

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Walking out the door to the last hotel Ranma went right into the closest alleyway to change his shirt. Turns out that while this hotel had open rooms they were reserved for the Miss Macross contestants. Well that just meant that he'd be turning into a girl a bit earlier than what he had expected to. Once he had replaced his shirt, he attempted to brace himself for the torrent of emotions that were sure to follow once he upended the bottle of water over his head.

She was barely able to hold herself together as her mind was hit with feelings of despair over the battle as well as the hurt and betrayal she had been exposed to before the battle. Falling to her knee's over the unrelenting onslaught of emotions that were quickly overrunning her, she struggled not to cry in vain as she lowered herself to where she was sitting on her butt with her knee's drawn into her chest.

Ranma began to wish that Lisa was there with her as she always helped her feel better before she caught herself. Lisa had betrayed her, and she was nothing more than a living, breathing joke to those that she loved. Rising to her feet once she had some semblance of self-control Ranma grabbed a hold of her bags and made her way back into the hotel, not even bothering to attempt to clean herself up.

Walking through he large glass doors Ranma made her way to the desk clerk. Doing her best to keep the shakiness out of her voice she said, "I'd like a room, I'm a contestant for Miss Macross and I was told that this hotel still had a few vacancies."

"Just one second ma'am, I have to see which rooms are still available." Replied the clerk.

"Ah, here we are room 214, if you'll leave your bag's right here I can have the bellhop take them up to you and show you to the room."

Ranma didn't want to be rude to the young man but she wasn't in the mood to deal with a lot of people. Doing her best to keep the sadness and loneliness that threatened to seep into her voice Ranma replied, "Thanks, but I'll be fine."

The clerk noticing that the beautiful young woman before him seemed to be distressed. He felt that he should say something but his luck with the ladies seemed to be non-existent. Reaching under the desk he grabbed a pamphlet and placed the key card on top of it and explained, "Here's your room key, and this is a menu for our kitchen. The kitchen is open twenty four seven so if you need anything, just give them a call and someone will bring it up to you."

Ranma nodded her head to the young man as he seemed to be fairly nice to her and just before she turned to make her way to the elevators, as she wasn't in the mood for more walking than what was absolutely necessary she said; "I'd appreciate it if no one knew I was here."

Nodding the clerk replied, "No worry ma'am, we here at the Macross Ramada pride ourselves with our confidentiality."

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Lisa was exhausted, she had been to Ranma's room four times looking for him, had walked through Macross city checking the Hotels as well as went over to the flight deck to check Ranma's former quarters and his office and squad room. Looking at her watch she realized that it was ten o'clock at night and she had been awake for far too many hours. Her shoulders hung in defeat and made her way back to Ranma's room to check it one more time before she gave up. With a sigh she realized though that if nothing else she knew that she'd see Ranma at the pageant as she had a back stage pass as part of Ranma's entourage.

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Reaching her assigned room, Ranma let out a sigh, she was exhausted but knew sleep would not be coming soon. Fumbling with her keycard Ranma opened the door to her room.

She supposed as far as hotel rooms were concerned the room was rather nice. It had a large queen size bed in the middle of the room, a standard dresser. A nice desk with a lamp and coffee machine resting on it. On top of the dresser was a 27 inch tv with gaming systems pre-attached, as well as a dvd player. Bringing her bags over to the closet she dumped them on the ground before kneeling down and beginning to pull out her clothes for the pageant as she knew that no matter her mood, she didn't want to dishonor the other contestants by wearing wrinkled clothes.

The nice thing about walking up to her room by herself was that she had managed to get a hold of her self a bit and while the occasional tear would escape she was not going to break down any further. Well so she thought.

While unpacking the rest of her bag she pulled out a familiar sweatshirt. If it had just been any average sweatshirt Ranma would have been able to contain herself, but the sweat shirt she now held in her hands was not any old average sweatshirt. It was Lisa's, the very same one she had borrowed from Lisa the night her mother had come over to help her prepare for the pageant.

The history of the sweatshirt was a bit more involved than just being Lisa's though. You see the faded light brown academy sweatshirt originally belonged to one Karl Riber. It was one of the few precious things that Lisa had left to remember Karl by, and Lisa had given it to her.

Cradling the sweatshirt softly to her chest, Ranma started to cry again as she remembered how much the sweatshirt meant to Lisa and How Lisa wanted her to have it to show how much she meant to her.

Forcing herself to her feet Ranma made her way over to the bed. She felt depressed, betrayed and alone, the love she thought Lisa had for her had turned out to be a joke, but yet she still yearned for Lisa to be there so she could hold her and tell her that everything was going to be alright.

Setting the sweatshirt down on the bed Ranma figured that since being with Lisa was no longer possible she would utilize the next best thing, that being the sweatshirt. Peeling off her clothes Ranma began to change into the sweatshirt and a pair of panties.

Sitting back down on the bed after she finished changing Ranma let out a sigh, as much as she didn't want to think about it she was lonely and had grown accustomed to not sleeping alone. Not wanting to go to sleep yet Ranma turned on the TV and then picked up the phone. She figured that maybe she could get her mind off of Lisa if she preoccupied herself with other things, and if that didn't work then perhaps some sweets might cheer her up.

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Waking up the next morning proved to be difficult for Ranma as she was still feeling distraught from the previous few days. Groggily she reached over expecting to feel a warm body next to her but was confused. Briefly she wondered where Lisa had gone before she realized that she was not in her own bed and that's when the rest of the previous events funneled back into her mind. Ranma had been hoping that it had just been a nightmare and when she woke up it was all going to be okay again.

Sitting up with a sigh she muttered, "It's never going to be like it was…" Snorting bitterly she added, "Hell, it never was what I thought it was. Was it?"

Getting up from her bed she began to stretch out after realizing that she had just over two hours before she had to check in for the pageant. However, Ranma wanted to arrive early so that she could take care of a few things and if it worked out then she might not even wind up competing.

Before she had fallen asleep the night before she had reached a conclusion, and that was that she was being disrespectful as well as dishonoring the other contestants as she was not a real girl. So since she had to see the pageant director to change her 'talent' she was going to arrive fairly early. Of course she also had one other small task to take care of as well, she also had to go down to security and have Lisa's back stage pass revoked because the last thing she wanted was to deal with her at the moment.

Ranma thought the reasoning behind her wanting to reveal her curse as rather simple. One it would let everyone else see that she wasn't a real girl and thus should be judged as that, if not booted from the pageant. Also because of the fact that her body was a curse she was feeling extremely guilty about lying about herself to everyone.

Once Ranma finished with her light stretches, she began to get ready. That meant she had to pack up the stuff she needed for the pageant as well as take a brief shower. Since she didn't want to change forms but didn't want to temporarily lock her form she decided to take a cold shower.

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----- one hour later -----------

Ranma set her bags down in a huff, it had taken her fifteen minutes to leave her apartment and five to walk to where all the pageant contestants were to sign in. But it had taken forty minutes of standing in line and waiting to get into the dressing room. She had been surprised when she had initially arrived, as she was almost the last in line, meaning that everyone else decided to arrive early.

Standing in line though allowed for her to get a glimpse at her competition and see if there was anyone there that she recognized. Though at the same time she hoped that she wouldn't have to run into Claudia, because she was unsure of what to say to her. Sure Lisa had been trying to get her and Claudia to bond on some level, but Ranma had known better. Claudia had always thought of her as a joke and was only nice to her because of her relationship with uncle Roy. (2)

The one she wanted to see though was nowhere in sight, it seemed Minmay must have arrived really early because Ranma could not make her out in the line in front of her. Though with Ranma being rather short and Minmay not being much taller it would have been difficult for Ranma to see her even if she was within twenty people in front of her.

The one thing standing in long boring lines with young women who saw you as an obstacle, something Ranma was somewhat familiar with, was that one has plenty of time to either firm their resolve or let it crumble into oblivion. And Ranma was right on the line; she didn't know what to do and really wished she had somebody to talk to. Having already asked security to revoke Lisa's pass, though security was a bit wary of it due to the fact that Lisa was the most powerful woman on the ship, Ranma decided to seek out Minmay after she finished setting out her stuff so it wouldn't wrinkle.

Ranma felt that Minmay was safe, as she had met Minmay long before reuniting with her mother. Plus they had bonded; initially because Ranma had saved her from a group of would be rapists. (3) But then Minmay and her family had helped her overcome some of her self-loathing.

Taking her evening gown out of her bag she hung it up at her station, before going off in search for one of the only friends she had left.

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After a few minutes of walking by several stations and receiving several glares, Ranma finally came across Minmay but not before having to hide for a few minutes when Claudia saw her.

Stepping out behind Minmay, Ranma shuffled her feet nervously as she waited for Minmay to take notice of her.

Looking up into the mirror as she grabbed a hold of a brush to work on her hair, Minmay paused. Ranma was standing behind her looking rather nervous and distressed, the older current girl had large bags under her eyes showing that she had not slept well. Turning to face her friend she asked, "Is something wrong Ranma?"

Ranma had been holding up rather well all things considered but upon hearing Minmay's question Ranma burst into tears once more and lunged into the younger girls arms.

Minmay just stood there momentarily before wrapping her arms around her friend and attempted to calm her distraught friend. Taking a deep breath she pulled Ranma fully into her stall and used one of her arms to slide the privacy curtain closed, to offer a bit of privacy.

After a few minutes, Minmay had decided that Ranma had calmed down enough for her to tell her what was going on. Pulling out of the embrace she asked a still crying and hiccupping Ranma, "What's wrong?"

Not wanting to look Minmay in the eye's Ranma attempted to answer as best she could and replied, "Lisa… My mom… She knew… Freak… Joke… I can't… This…"

Minmay gave Ranma another hug, it bothered her to see her usually strong and confident friend like this. Giving the red-head a light squeeze she said, "Shh, it'll be okay."

After a few more minutes Ranma had calmed down to where she was now just sniffling. Sighing softly Minmay asked, "Do you want to talk about it now?"

Ranma sat there silently for a few seconds contemplating what she was going to say. Not wanting to waste Minmay's time any more than what she had already because of her breaking down Ranma quietly whispered, "I… can't do this… It's not honorable for me to be here cause I ain't a real girl… I'm just a freak… I just wanted to before I went to see the director…" Swallowing nervously and allowed the words to rush out, "I'mgoingtotellthemaboutthecurseandseeifthey'llletmeuseitonstageforthetalentportion."

Being familiar with rushed speak as she was Minmay look as second to repeat what Ranma had said in her mind. "I'm going to tell them about the curse and see if they'll let me use it on stage for the talent portion" Sighing to herself Minmay asked, "Are you sure you want to do that?" Noticing that Ranma seemed a bit reluctant to answer she pressed, "I know usually you tend to keep it as secret as you can… So why, reveal it now? Especially when you're going to be doing it in front of the entire ship. If you do this, everyone will know… Are you sure about this?"

"What does it matter anyway, least this way they'll know I'm a freak." Ranma said as she looked down at her feet.

Minmay bit her lip, she wasn't sure but she was beginning to suspect that something had happened between Ranma and Lisa. Lifting Ranma's chin to where she could look the redhead in the eyes she asked, "Does this have something to do with why Lisa isn't here with you right now?"

Ranma nodded hesitantly and mumbled, "My mom has known about the curse for some time… Lisa and them… I'm just a joke and a freak to them."

Minmay hugged the girl once more and whispered soothingly in her ear, "you're not a joke Ranma… You are strong and brave… And if you're a freak then I'm an alien." Sighing as she let go of the embrace she gave Ranma a warm look with a bit of sadness mixed in it. The sadness apparent was not out of pity; no it was for all that her friend went through. Minmay wasn't sure about what was going on but at this point it didn't matter. No what mattered was stopping her friend from doing something that once, Ranma came to her senses, and she would regret revealing his curse in such a fashion.

Moving behind Ranma, Minmay positioned themselves to where they could see their reflections in the mirror and said, "If you really want to do that to yourself then you can and I won't stop you. However, I really don't think that you want to do that, there's no telling what will happen if every one finds out about your curse." Embracing the girl from behind Minmay asked, "Do you really want every one to know about your curse?"

"Why does it matter if a few more people know? It doesn't change that I'm a dishonorable freak." Ranma muttered.

Minmay sighed to herself, this was going to take awhile and while to her it didn't matter if Ranma competed or not, she still had a lot to do before she was ready.

Minmay sat there with Ranma talking for what seemed to be hours but was actually 40 minutes. In the end she had managed to talk Ranma out of wanting to reveal her curse. In the end it had been rather simple, Minmay had switched her tactics and instead of saying that it was a bad idea, she just simply told Ranma that she should just drop out of the competition completely rather than turning herself into a spectacle. Because if Ranma went through with her plan, she was just going to ruin the competition with a scandal and it wouldn't be fair to do that to everybody whom had worked hard to prepare for the pageant. In the end, that was the same reasoning that temporarily lifted Ranma out of her funk and got her motivated enough to actually compete. So after helping Ranma wash up they parted ways to finish getting ready.

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Wearing a simple but elegant light blue evening gown with a long slit that started at her ankle and finished at her upper thigh Ranma stood in line with the rest of the other contestants waiting for the pageant to begin so they could walk out on stage and be introduced.

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Lisa was angry and hurt as she walked away from the backstage area. She was hurt because Ranma had her backstage pass revoked and now she didn't have a way to contact her and explain until after the pageant. More so though, she was angry with herself, in the past few days she had made a lot of mistakes with their relationship.

For starters she realized that no matter how Ranma had come across, sleeping with her had been a bad idea. With hindsight being twenty-twenty and all that Lisa now realized that Ranma was not yet mentally ready for it. But even before that Lisa realized that she should have said something about her finding out that Nodoka knew about the curse. She should have known better than to just let it slide away in favor of enjoying what Ranma had planned for the night.

Having made her way out of the building Lisa stopped near the railing that overlooked the stage and sighed. She wanted so badly to be there for Ranma right now, who knows what had been running rampant through that thick skull. Kicking forward out of frustration with her foot, an action she immediately regretted as it came in contact with a solid metal bar, cursing softly to herself.

"Careful there commander, what would my nephew say if he found out you were walking around kicking things and hurting yourself." Half joked Roy Fokker.

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After the battle Nodoka had busied herself with her work, scheduling maintenance and going over battle data. She figured that she was the last person that her son wanted to see and she couldn't blame him. So she decided that she was just going to watch the pageant from her office while she worked.

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Muttering to herself darkly Lisa turned to face one of the people that she felt had betrayed Ranma. After looking at him for a minute she decided to ask, "What brings you here Colonel? Come to see if you can figure out another way to lie to Ranma." Noticing that the man flinched slightly at the venom in her tone she smiled inwardly.

Roy sighed, apparently all was not yet forgiven. From experience he decided that silence was the best option and instead of retorting he just moved closer to watch the upcoming pageant.

Walking up near him but still separated by a few feet Lisa sighed in resignation before saying, "Just so you know, we all fucked up… You, me, Claudia and Nodoka."

Roy was interested in what she meant by that, he hadn't talked to his sister in a few days and well Ranma whenever he was in his guy form never said much of anything unless it pertained to work. Watching as the contestants started to walk across the stage for their introduction he asked, "Want to talk about it commander?"

Lisa remained silent for a few minutes, only letting out a forlorn sigh once Ranma glided across the stage. Standing in silence for a few more minutes Lisa said, "The other night Ranma found out that Nodoka knew."

"I see." Said Roy as he stared at the stage.

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Ranma was a nervous wreck; she was very familiar at being ogled by men as well as being accused on more than one occasion of not having any feminine modesty. However at the moment, the butterflies in her stomach were making her more nervous than what she had ever been before. The reason behind it, the red crosspiece she was wearing for the swimsuit portion of the pageant. Although it was a one-piece Ranma still felt nearly naked wearing it. It flaunted her hips, showed off her abs, made it look like her butt was a gift from the gods and brought out her breasts tastefully. And because she knew that, it made Ranma nervous.

She kept thinking, "Why couldn't I wear something less flattering? A lot of the other girls are wearing one pieces, I had a perfectly okay one piece… Okay so it wasn't perfect… And it had BOY written across it… But still… I feel like I'm gonna…"

Sighing in exasperation Ranma continued, "Okay, so I' don't really know how I feel, I'm just nervous… There could be a large crowd of Kuno's long lost cousins out there or something…" Turning her head Ranma noticed Minmay talking to an older gajin lady who was also competing. Noticing that Minmay was wearing a solid blue one piece and that the older woman was wearing a yellow and black two piece Ranma moved forward to hear what her friend, who seemed upset, was talking about only to hear Minmay be called onto the stage leaving Ranma within a few feet of the Gajin.

Ranma stood there hoping that the older woman wouldn't notice her.

"I'm not going to sign an autograph for you."

Ranma blinked, that had been rather unexpected, she wondered briefly who this woman was that she thought that she wanted an autograph before blurting out, "Huh, why would I want your autograph? You don't look like anyone special to me." After a moment Ranma smirked devilishly and added, "Besides you probably won't win this." Using her hands to gesture to her own assets she continued, "I know I'm better built as are a lot of the others."

The woman huffed arrogantly, but instead of retorting she opted to just turn her head to act as if Ranma was not even there.

Now normally Ranma might not have said that but after seeing that Minmay seemed to be a bit upset when she turned to go on stage Ranma had decided that pushing the woman's buttons was not a bad thing as she had hurt her friends feelings.

Standing backstage with nothing to do, Ranma began to think about why she was still there and competing. Minmay had told her to quit if she couldn't get a hold of herself. She had said it wasn't worth it to ruin the pageant for the others because she was upset. Sure Minmay hadn't used those exact words but that was the jist of it. It was then that Ranma was able to push her problems aside for a bit, and while she was still thinking about them, she wasn't going to dwell on it until after the pageant. Another thing that Minmay had managed to do was to get her to actually compete, Ranma now reasoned that while before she was going to compete; now she was fired up about it. After all if these girls put that much effort into it then she had to put her all into it as well because if the couldn't beat her, who wasn't even a real girl, then they must not have prepared enough.

Hearing her name called out Ranma lifted her head confidently and applied a little bit of ki to her assets. It was a little trick that Ranma had to have beaten into her once she had gotten the curse because she didn't want to go around wearing a bra to keep her chest from hurting during spars and fights. She supposed that it was similar to how Ryouga is able to take the blows that he does. But adding a bit of ki to her chest had an added effect of making her chest seem just a bit more perky than what they were. However with all the girls with the exception of a few were walking around the dressing room with tape on their breasts, holding them up to look fuller, Ranma realized that this was a technique that should be forbidden because of it's effectiveness.

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Walking out on stage, Ranma ignored the catcalls and whistles as she made her way across the stage as elegantly as she could. Her eye's drifted across the crowd and she was able to spot her entire group there. Rick seemed to shrink down in his seat a bit. Max was also shrinking down in his seat, most likely because Ben and Mike were standing up whistling loudly. Gary just gave her a thumbs up when he caught her eyes on him. Reaching her turning point Ranma pulled her gaze away from her teammates and moved into her position behind a taller blonde.

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It was now time for the evening gown competition. Ranma was wearing a full length Black Cheongsam with Red Cherry Blossom's embroidered on it. Hearing her name called out again Ranma stepped forward and prepared to go on stage.

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Nodoka sat in her office quietly as she watched Ranma walk across the stage. She noted with apparent sadness that Ranma was a very beautiful and gifted person and that she as the mother had had nothing to do with it, other than adding stress and breaking her child away from everyone she cared about in favor of her own greedy desires.

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It was now time for the talent portion of the pageant and Ranma was feeling more nervous than before and she wasn't sure why. She supposed that it could be the fact hat she was going to sing in front of the entire ship, but she figured that that couldn't be it considering that she had done some rather embarrassing things in front of the school back in Nerima. Wearing a Bunny suit was foremost on her mind. She knew that her swimsuit had been more revealing than the gown she was singing in, so it couldn't be that. The gown she was wearing was as she described it upon it's purchase, black with red glittery thingys all over. She nearly laughed at that remembering Lisa's face when she had said that, before pushing that thought from her mind. She knew that it would not do to be distracted. Colors aside the gown had a low neck and barely a back to it. It hugged her frame rather nicely as it flaunted her curves.

Hearing her name called once more she made her way over to the entrance waiting for the host to announce her on the stage.

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Ranma walked out in a slight daze, she was getting more and more nervous and now that the time had come she was feeling almost ready to bolt. She tried to apply the soul of ice, but as her previous attempts in her girl form it was not working. Stepping up to the mike nervously she stood there for a minute, too nervous to say a word.

She scanned the audience, looking at the eager and anticipating faces. She flashed a nervous smile before her eyes were able to pick out two figures on the outside of the arena looking in. Letting all her sadness and hurt flow into her she said, "I am singing Rain, previously preformed by Mai Yamane, written by, Tim Jensen."

The music started and focusing on all her emotions, Ranma began to sing.

I don't feel a thing
and I stopped remembering
The days are just like moments turned to hours

--

Mother used to say
if you want, you'll find a way
Bet mother never danced through fire shower

-

Walk in the rain, in the rain, in the rain
I walk in the rain, in the rain
Is it right or is it wrong
and is it here that I belong

-

I don't hear a sound
Silent faces in the ground
The quiet screams, but I refused to listen

-

If there is a hell
I 'm sure this is how it smells
Wish this were a dream, but no, it isn't

-

Walk in the rain, in the rain, in the rain
I walk in the rain, in the rain
Am I right or am I wrong
and is it here that I belong

-

Walk in the rain, in the rain, in the rain
I walk in the rain, in the rain
Why do I feel so alone
For some reason I think of home

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From her perch outside of the auditorium Lisa could feel the song crawl across her skin as Ranma put forth all her emotions behind her. Unable to take it any more she became overwrought with guilt and felt tears making their way down her face.

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As she was reduced to tears Nodoka couldn't help it as an overwhelming sense of pride crept into her despair over betraying her child.

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Ranma finished the last verse and hung her head, not wanting the audience to see the tears that had started to leak down her face. The audience had been silent captivated by her voice. Ranma was about to turn away in defeat, thinking that she had bombed the talent portion and was caught off guard as the audience erupted into a standing ovation. Momentarily stunned at the response she stood there frozen until she felt the announcers hand on her shoulder.

Snapping back to the moment, she began to move. First she offered a small bow before, as gracefully as she could, making her way backstage where she was met by a gushing Minmay.

"That was beautiful, Ranko."

Ranma pulled herself away from Minmay, those words hadn't come from her friend. No those words came from a woman Ranma had been hard pressed at avoiding all night, one Claudia Grant.

Backing away Ranma felt cornered, she didn't want to have to deal with Claudia at the moment. As politely as she could muster she said, "Thank you Commander… I… Um… I have to go change, seeyoubyegoodluck."

Minmay was puzzled she wasn't sure what had caused Ranma to run away like that. Turning to Claudia she asked, "Is this about what happened between Lisa and Ranma."

Claudia was confused, did Lisa already tell Ranma that they had known? Because if she had then Claudia would have expected anger over Ranma just running away like that. Turning her attention back to Minmay she said sadly, "I don't know, what happened with Lisa?"

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The Announcer stood at center stage, ready to announce the final five. Once the drum roll finished the announcer excitedly stated, "And now we have narrowed the contestants down to the final five. Once we have them on stage they each will be asked three questions. After that then we will be calling on YOU, the audience to help us with the final voting, so I want you all to keep your keypads handy and give a large rounded applause for our finalists."

"Actress extraordinaire, Miss Jan Norris"

"The SDF-1's second officer, Lieutenant Commander Claudia Grant."

"SDF-1's Communication officer, Ensign Sammie Porter."

"Our very own, Miss Lynn Minmay."

"And last but not least, hailing from the Nerima district of Tokyo, Japan, Miss Ranko Tendo."

As the applause died down the contestants were led over to five seats set up center stage, a good distance from the front where there was a microphone in its stand for them to use.

In her seat, Ranma was a wreck; she never figured that she would make it as far as what she had. It was taking all her concentration just to sit still and not appear to be a jumble of nerves. But as contestants began to go through their final task, Ranma couldn't help but feel it was wrong of her to be there. Sure she had decided to compete; sure she had decided that she would give it her all. However deep down she felt it was wrong, the people next to her were women, women whom had tried their hardest to get there, woman who were born that way, whose entire lives were subjected to fads and fashions. Steered by society to do their best to look and act feminine, and Ranma felt guilty, she wasn't a woman. Before her curse she never had to deal with societies expectations on what was proper. There was never a day in her life where she was worried about looking fat or any of the stereotypical things Ranma thought women worried about.

Hearing her name called Ranma stood while straitening out her gown. Making her way gracefully to center stage Ranma approached the microphone. The nervous fluttering sensation only increased to the point where it was almost unbearable. Flashing a nervous smile at the Judges, Ranma waited for the panel to ask her, her questions.

The first one was easy enough, she was asked, "What were her hobbies." Briefly Ranma felt a surge of her former confidence resurfacing and she replied, "Martial arts, I am the heir to my families style and have been trained since I could walk in many obscure and nearly forgotten styles."

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Lisa had returned to her former perch next to Roy, overlooking the stadium. She had been tempted to ask for a cigarette to help calm herself down. But when she heard Ranma's name called for the final five she was beaming with pride. Sure Ranma thought that she had betrayed him but Lisa hoped that they would be able to move behind that, eventually.

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"If you could have one wish, what would it be?"

It was a simple question overall on par with what is your favorite food. But for Ranma despite the simplicity of the question, the answer was a bit more complex. Instead of a surge of confidence she felt her stomach drop as her insecurities decided that now would be the best time to assert themselves.

"A cure, no more being laughed at, no more being a freak, no more accusations of being a pervert, a chance for real happiness, love, no more pain, acceptance, life."

Her eyes swimming across the audience searching for the elusive answer Ranma stepped back. She felt cornered, the walls were beginning to close in on her. Hoping to calm herself she stopped their wandering at a point beyond the crowd, ultimately resting on the one person she had hoped was no-longer there.

It came out a whisper, soft and clear, perhaps she meant to say it. Maybe it was a Freudian slip, maybe it was her nervousness, but the crowd heard her answer.

"Lisa."

The smothered feeling returned tenfold, she couldn't take it. Taking another step back she looked around for the closest exit. The audience was standing there shell shocked, not knowing the symbolism of the answer but at the same time noting its significance. Turning her attention behind her Ranma noticed that both Claudia and Minmay were halfway raised out of their seats, presumably to stop her from bolting.

Facing front again her eyes began a frantic search for a way out as she began to offer apologies.

"I'm sorry… I don't belong here… I… Just… I can't… "

Looking forward she offered one last time, "I'm sorry."

Glancing up Ranma saw her way out. Bracing herself slightly she jumped up swinging herself onto the catwalks and fading from view.

A- borrowed this idea from, The Master. It's a jet li movie, while not one of his better ones the exorcise does improve hand eye coordination.

b- I'm aware that the name is cliché, however I am honoring one of my favorite bars that I used to go to before it closed.

)2) a few chapters back Ranma believed that Claudia was only being nice to her because of her uncle. The evidence she has is that instead of spending anytime with him she went and pushed Lisa to talk to him and then disappeared. Think it was the middle of chapter two or three.

)3) first chapter, it's part of a flashback right after Ranma arrives in Macross.