[BOOK 1] Macross: Voltron || Super Dimensional Voltron Force

Chapter 24: Lift off

Apologies about the huge delay of this chapter! I've got a lot of issues at the moment to work through as of now. That's also why I took a massive break, which I probably could have announced in a better way...

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3 months later...

Silence...

3 months worth of silence filled the comms. No word had come from the Atlas or any of her crew...

The Macross Zero's carrier, the Nightingale, launched 2 months ago, and all contact with it was lost as well.

Mathias sat in an office, hands folded in each other, his face and mind troubled. No contact in over three months, and the people of Earth are beginning to wonder about them. Should he tell the truth about their disappearance to the world?

A knock from the door in front of him pulled him out of his trance. His eyes aimed upward to the closed door.

"Enter..." he spoke. An officer slowly entered, carrying a datapad in his left hand, then saluted with this right. "At ease, Lieutenant..." he muttered as the officer dropped his arms and relaxed his body, "now, report?"

The officer handed him the pad, then retracted his arm. Mathias clicked a button on the pad, and a video came up.

"We finally got a response from the Nightingale... however, sir... it's not glamorous in the slightest," the officer spoke as the video played. The screen displayed a badly damaged bridge with a wounded alien capitan gripping his chair in pure fear and pain.

"-day! MAYDAY! WE'RE UNDER ATTACK BY HONERVA'S FORCES! THE ATLAS IS TAKING FIRE AND IS BADLY DAMAGED, WE CA-!" Before the captain could finish his sentence, a massive explosion engulfed the bridge before the transmission closed. In the end, Mathias saw a badly damaged Atlas fighting a battle against several mecha, which made his blood go cold. They were more of the Robeasts.

"The Nightingale managed to send that transmission out before what we presume was destroyed," the officer continued as Mathias placed the pad on the desk, then cupped his hands together in deep thought. The officer waited for a response from the admiral, but nothing came forth. He was about to ask if he was alright before the admiral stood up, his face stern.

"That settles that decision..." he muttered to himself as he walked past the officer before stopping at the door. He glanced back slightly to the officer, "what's the status report of the SDF-1's repairs?"

The officer nervously scratched the back of his head, "well, almost all of the hull has been repaired, the only major concern is the cannons. Engineers speculate that they will be able to fire about three or four more times before they need to be repaired again. They're still trying to work with the database to completely repair the guns per your request, sir."

Mathias remained silent for a moment before nodding slowly, "I guess that will have to do, then..."

The officer looked up in surprise, "sir?!"

Mathias turned to fully face the officer, "we're launching the Macross and going to aid them." He walked back to his desk and grabbed a radio, then switched some switches before barking, "ATTENTION ALL FORCES! ANY UNIT THAT ARE NOT APART OF THE EARTH DEFENSIVE FORCE ARE TO RETURN TO THE SDF-1 IMMEDIATELY. THIS IS NOT A DRILL! I REPEAT! ALL MECHA NOT TASKED WITH PLANETARY DEFENSE ARE TO RETURN TO THE MACROSS IMMEDIATELY FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS!"

Pilots around the world looked at each other and began to scramble, launching from bases as they flew to the Macross, landing in the hangars and readying themselves for anything.