Disclaimer: Don't own it. If I did, I wouldn't have left the ending so open.

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"Wake up, idiot."

Alto heard the words, but decided he wanted to ignore them. They were being spoken by that jackass Brera, and he'd much rather sleep than talk to the cyborg pilot…

…"think I saw something down there, sir, a flash of metal or something." Alto heard Kakizaki say over the com.

"Copy that, Skull-7. Klan, did you receive that?" he spoke into his helmet mic as he keyed the button for general transmission.

"Roger, I received that, and it's Lt. Commander Klan to you…"

…"I finally accepted that for some reason my sister cares for you," came Brera's voice again, intruding on his thoughts, or were they memories? Or dreams? "But if you don't wake up then I'm going to have to start objecting again. Rather strenuously. By thrashing you soundly like we both know I can."

Alto almost snorted, but that would have required waking up further, and he didn't really want to do that just yet…

…"Wow, what a mess…there must have be three or four Victors and at least a dozen Dandiform, but they're sliced all the hell up," Kakizaki reported, turning over a rent carapace with the tip of the heavy cannon his fighter carried.

"I think this confirms the Commander's report that they are going after warp crystals," Luca replied. "They've cut open the Vajra to extract the shards that they carry; I guess no one told them that the dandiform don't carry very large crystals at that stage of development."

"There are still two untouched bodies, though," Kakizaki responded. "Does that mean we…"

Suddenly there was light, and a deafening explosion, and Skull-7 dropped like a puppet with its strings cut.

"SNIPER!" Klan cried, and Alto kicked, literally, throwing the foot thrusters on at full burn when he suddenly felt heat and pressure and then blackness…

…"Saotome, wake up or I'm getting Captain Bobby."

THAT registered. "Keep that freak away from me!" Alto muttered, trying to sit up; in doing so, he realized he was floating. He snapped fully awake. "What the hell, Sterne? Why are we in the fold-mind? Where are Sheryl and Ranka?"

The purple-tinted form of Brera Sterne hovered in front of him. "That's what I hope you can tell me."

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"…So the Vajra won't talk to you? Are they still that mad at you?"

Brera sighed. Saotome Alto was an excellent pilot, for a flesh-and-blood limited being, but he still didn't quite understand how the Vajra communicated, or even how they thought. He didn't understand that the Vajra weren't 'mad' at Brera; rather that they didn't trust him, that they didn't view him as part of the hive. He still 'tasted' like the rest of the cybernetically-enhanced people from Galaxy, and so they viewed him with the same suspicion they showed to the outsiders that had tried to take over the Grand Queen.

"They aren't mad, Saotome, but they don't want to talk to me. The only one that they might trust would be the chosen consort of the Queens." Brera wished that he didn't sound so flat in the fold-mind, so impersonal, but it was an artifact of how he interfaced with fold-space.

And Saotome looked as clueless as he often did, his face screwing up in an odd expression. "I didn't know that the queens had consorts. Aren't the Vajra pretty much asexual? I thought that they reproduced through some weird parthenogenic thing?"

Brera blinked. Then blinked again, looking at his fellow pilot oddly. "I'm surprised that you know what the word 'parthenogenic' means, Saotome." He smirked just slightly when Alto made a rude hand gesture. "And I'm not talking about the Junior Queens. Doesn't it strike you as odd that every time my sister and her fellow idol commune with the Vajra, the messages they bring back always refer to the Vajra queens as 'junior'?"

Saotome may be slow, Brera thought, but judicious application of clues would lead him to leap to the right conclusion fairly quickly. "Oh, hell. You want me to go and talk to the Vajra and get them to release their 'Queens' to us? They don't even like me!"

"I agree with them fully. But I feel that you are the only one that can approach the Queens without being instantly rebuffed. You always want to be the hero – and why is that, are you compensating for all the time you spent as a child playing the helpless maiden? – so you get to go and face the fearsome monsters."

"Fine, I'll go and talk to them," Alto said with a mild sigh. "And I am not compensating."

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Miranda gave a sigh as she listened to the news continue to report on nothing, then sipped at her coffee. Sheryl Nome and Ranka Lee were still in the hospital, cause unknown. Saotome Alto, former kabuki actor and current SMS pilot, often romantically linked either Sheryl or Ranka (and how the newsies hadn't quite caught onto reality there, Miranda wasn't sure), was also hospitalized. The news cameras were a ways off from the hospital, shooting with long lenses; the reason for that seemed to be a tall, heavily-armed blunette meltran, sitting in what had to be the largest lawn chair on all of Frontier on the lawn of the hospital. Miranda knew that if she were the producer, she wouldn't be risking expensive and (currently) difficult to replace camera equipment by getting too close to the volatile SMS pilot. Once had, amazingly enough, been enough of a lesson for the newsies. Miranda felt a secret, special glee every time she saw the playback of the meltran giving a newsie hover-cam a well placed kick that sent it on a ballistic arc that ended in the colony's freshwater sea. She had been hounded quite a bit during her early reign as Miss Macross, before being displaced by Ranka as the newest media darling.

The news shifted to commentary on the new law currently under debate, a law that would allow for multiple-partner marriages. The experts trotted out all sorts of statistics, half of which went by so fast that she was unsure just what the numbers had been about, but it all came down to the colony having a gross imbalance between women and men, heavily in favor of the women. Something had to be done, and the government apparently favored this multiple spouse option. They talked about immigration, and how anyone brought in wouldn't really be part of the Frontier colony, and that giving the necessary incentives to encourage that immigration would further draw down the colony's already strapped treasury. Miranda knew she wasn't the smartest person on the colony, or the most politically savvy, but for all the debate, she already knew the outcome.

The news broke for a commercial, and there was a political ad for that SMS Captain, that was running for President, his cute wife by his side. Miranda suppressed a snort. She had gone to primary and secondary school with Monica, and knew all three of the SMS bridge bunnies from Mihoshi, although they had little to do with each other; Miranda was in performance – dance – and Monica and her cohorts were all technical tracks, and the other two were younger than her in any case. She hadn't even known the other two had gone on to SMS until seeing them in a news report after the end of the war. That Monica was married to that Captain was of no surprise to her; the girl had always had a thing for older men.

She changed the channel and gave a sigh as she saw it was yet another report from the hospital. She perked up when they went to the long view – there was another meltran who had joined the blunette who had been there before, and it was the rosette that had come to her for advice on being bitchy. Perhaps she should pay the girl a visit, even if she was currently micronized, and she how she was getting along. She could even get one of her obligatory charity visits done. Not that anyone seemed to care that Miss Macross was visiting, but she certainly wasn't going to surrender her crown because she hadn't been attending to the duties laid out to her upon receiving said crown. That decided, she finished her coffee and departed for the hospital.

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Kanaria watched over the recumbent forms of Brera Sterne and Saotome Alto with a frown. Between this room and the one holding Sheryl and Ranka, every single trustworthy person that the Frontier colony had that could enter the fold mind and speak to the Vajra was accounted for. As the primary physician for SMS and Ozma's preferred caregiver for Ranka, she was feeling more than a bit of pressure from the government to get some answers. Klan was on security detail at the moment; when Kanaria came back from lunch with her family, the meltran had been sitting outside the hospital in the biggest damn folding chair that Kanaria had ever seen; apparently tired of having to shout and argue with the government delegations, Klan had opted to increase her volume physically instead of audibly. She and Ozma were both good enough students of old Earth history to get Luca's quip of 'speaking softly and carrying a BIG meltran'.

She only wished that she could solve her problems as easily as Klan had solved hers. Sheryl and Ranka continued to have identical vital signs, down to their EEG readings, and with the arrival of Brera, all four now showed the unique brain patterns of an individual in contact with the fold mind. This was an improvement in Alto's case, a step up from oblivious unconsciousness, but whether the pilot would emerge on his own volition remained to be seen.

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Mopping his forehead and fussing with his hat, Elmo Kridanik continued to peruse his email. There was a copious amount from the people of the colony, hoping that Ranka and Sheryl would get better and sending their well wishes. He flagged these and made copies for the girls, so they could see the number of people who cared. There were also quite a few missives from the government, demanding updates; it was these that had him sitting at the hospital, protected from the overzealous functionaries by the armed might of Lt. Commander Klan Klan's arms. He deleted the government email, along with most of those from the press. He had a few reporters that he had good relations with and he sent them off a form letter he had already composed, promising them information as soon as he was authorized by his clients or their families to do so. Since Ozma cared not one whit for the press, and Alto was currently just as insensate as his girls, there were no worries that he had to produce any information anytime soon.

He shuffled through the rest of his email, looking for anything interesting, and deleting the spam (thankfully there wasn't much, just a few junk mails from his galactic music accounts), while his mind was pre-occupied by the condition of his girls. He was so focused that it took him a minute to realize that someone had joined him at the table. He looked up, and was thankful for his habit of always wearing tinted glasses, as his eyes went wide when he recognized his guest.

He knew who she was, of course, who didn't know Miss Macross? He was genuinely surprised to see her here, partly because he knew she didn't care much for Ranka, and if she had family here, she certainly wouldn't have stopped to talk to him, would she?

"I'm sorry, I was so caught up in my work that I didn't notice that I had been joined by the lovely Miss Macross! I'm ashamed of myself! Can I get you something to drink?"

The girl smiled, a wry smile that Elmo felt looked out of place on her proud features, and she shook her head. "That's quite alright. I don't want to take up too much of your time; I know what a busy man you are."

"Not so busy at the moment," he sighed. "This is truly a trying time for me. We have so many opportunities, chances to spread our music and our message to the whole galaxy, and now my two lovely singers have been struck down by some mysterious and malicious malady!" He was waving his arms as he finished, gesturing broadly as he spoke.

The redhead laughed happily. "You really do love music don't you? I didn't think that the stories about you were true, that you are all about Deculture."

Elmo nodded. "This is true, and I'm not ashamed of it. I was lucky to find Ranka, who was a gem in the rough, and even luckier that Sheryl came to me in her time of need. I consider every day that I get to work with such talent a gift."

Miranda nodded. "They are amazing. When I first met Ranka, I'm sorry to say…well, no. I wasn't sorry then, but its all part of the game, isn't it? I tried to intimidate her, and probably succeeded, but it didn't get me anything in the end. I was a bitch to her, and if she's still as meek and mousy as when I first met her, I doubt we'd get along. But there has to be something more to her, doesn't there?"

"Ranka is learning to be strong. She isn't letting anyone walk over her or make demands anymore. She speaks for the Vajra now, and while I don't understand the Vajra or what it takes to communicate with them, I don't think that anyone can be their voice and not learn to stand up and be strong."

The erstwhile Miss Macross nodded once more. "I would think that you are right. But I am taking your valuable time, and I should speak to you about why I'm here."

"Of course, of course! I'm always willing to listen to a lovely lady!" the zentran said, standing and sweeping his hat off his head with a bow.

"You're planning some kind of tour for them, aren't you?" The manager nodded, and Miranda continued. "I was hoping to approach you about a job, actually."

"A job?"

"Yes," Miranda said, "I was hoping that the upcoming tour would be big enough that you were going to employ dancers, and I wanted to ask if you would consider me for lead dancer and choreographer." Elmo's eyebrows went up slightly, and the redhead rushed on. "I know that I don't have a good track record with either of the girls, and I know that I was horrible in that movie – which isn't really my fault, because it didn't play to my strengths at all, but of course I should have told them that – but I really am an excellent dancer and I really do want to be a part of something great and grand and that would let me see more than just this little colony…"

Elmo laughed, a loud, raucous sound, interrupting the girl's ramblings. "That's fine, that's fine! I'll make sure that you'll get an audition – I can't promise anything more than that – but you seem to be sincere, and anyone who is sincere about spreading the message is always welcome. Deculture!"

"Thank you, Mr. Kridanik."

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It had taken time to reach the queens in the hive mind, partly because Alto was easily distracted, and partly because the Vajra were less than helpful when it came to Brera, but eventually the two of them 'stood' near the queens in the vastness of the fold-mind. The junior queens were arrayed like an honor guard, watching all approaches and blocking any from approaching. Alto noted the circling, agitated presence of a solitary Dandiform that could only be Ai-kun. He looked at Brera, and the cyborg favored him with a look that said 'get on with it', so with a mental sigh the actor-turned-pilot floated forward.

//QueensnotVajra/consort/Altokun greeting/salutation/welcome//

Alto knew that it was useless to try and figure which of the junior queens had spoken, since in truth they all had. He faced the nearest one as a courtesy. "I…" He concentrated. //I need to speak to Ranka and Sheryl//

//QueennotVajra/Ranka QueennotVajra/Sheryl confused/muddled/scrambled/scared/terrified/frightened/hurt/pain/agony interrogative QueennotVajra/consort/Altokun help/help/help//

//I will help them, I promise. May I see them?//

The Vajra queen nearest Alto 'slid' to the side, allowing Alto his first clear view of the girls (no matter where he and Brera had 'stood', they had been unable to see past the Vajra) and if he were able to draw breath here, it would have hitched. Ranka and Sheryl floated, back to back, partially overlapping, their hair entwined, hands interlinked, and the glowing auras that normally highlighted them were swirling wildly around them, the pink and green making patterns and eddies of energy leaping away from them and then falling back , sometimes falling upon the girl it originated from, and sometimes not. Both girls had their eyes closed, looking almost peaceful but for the tight lines of their mouths.

"Sheryl…Ranka…"

Both girls opened their eyes at once, heads turning toward him, but still overlapping. Their eyes were both swirls of pink and green. "Alto-kun," they said in a strained unison, pain evident in their voices. "Help us…"

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Authors Notes:

Not as long this since the last one this time, thank god.

Yes, I know, cliffhangers are evil. But the chapter really wanted to stop there.

No real references this time. Hopefully, this chapter somewhat clears up what happened to Alto, and gives some hints as to what's going on with Ranka and Sheryl. Also hopefully, I think that there will only be a few more chapters and this will be wrapped up. I'm not trying to make this into a long term project, and I really do want to have it done before the first movie comes out, but barring that, since its mostly going to be rehashed TV footage (and THANK YOU, Gainax, for starting that wonderful trend) and not much new story, definitely before the second movie comes out, which will be a new story.

Somehow, I've gotten roped into writing for a second comic, which pushes back the release of my project, but also brings me more money once everything gets approved, so I can't complain too much. Less time for fun things like this (the initial treatment materials and the short script I did took about 2 weeks) but nothing too onerous. Maybe I can actually make a living writing?

Nah.

Thanks to everyone who has put me on their Favorites list, especially since the last chapter. That was a lot of my motivation to get this done. Thanks again.