Macross 30: Voices Across The Galaxy

Chapter 2: Bandits & The Hunter License

As far as Rion was concerned, the VF-0 Phoenix might have been state-of-the-art 52 years ago, but to him it was slow and flew like a boat. Still it was all he had at the moment so he wouldn't complain... too much.

He was just about to pick up the last crate of supplies that Aisha had sent him to pick up. It was slow, boring work. He could fly to the site quick enough in fighter mode but in order to get the crates back he had to fly in the slightly less aerodynamic GERWALK mode. Still, he was on the last container and then Aisha had said they would go to the nearby town of Daoren and get him a Hunter License, which he apparently needed.

Just as he transformed the Valkyrie, his alarms blared. His radar screen showed that he had two VF-1 Valkyries flying towards him.

"Aisha, I have two contacts inbound, broadcasting unknown IFFs."

"Be on guard Rion. They're likely some of the bandits that stole this stuff in the first place."

"Well then, I'll have to greet them properly," Rion grinned.

The two Valkyries, which looked fairly shabby and beat up, unlike Rion's practically spotless Phoenix, hovered to a stop in front and above Rion in GERWALK, while Rion stood in front of the crate in battroid mode.

"Oy, what the hell're you doing here? You another of those Hunter Guild slags stealin' our stuff?!" demanded one of the bandits.

"Uh, he's not Hunter Guild, Jake. He reads as SMS," returned his more nervous sounding partner.

"Same difference! Now Mr. SMS, are you gonna hand over our stuff, or do we have to blow you outta the sky?!"

"Sure," Rion retorted, still grinning, "come and get it."

The fools actually believed him and began descending, which was when Rion fired off four of his anti-air missiles. The missiles, not actually locked on, streaked up into the sky. An expensive gambit, but it paid off as the bandits immediately panicked and split off. Still grinning, Rion lined up his Phoenix's GPU-9 35mm gunpod on one of the bandits and opened fire. The poor VF-1 was shredded and crashed to the ground in flames. Rion quickly turned to line up on his second target but found that that one was fleeing on afterburners.

"SMS scum! Ganeth will hear about this!!" the bandit yelled and then cut off communications.

"Ganeth? Who's Ganeth?" asked Rion.

"Ganeth? Don't worry about him. He's just an idiot," responded Aisha, her image on his monitor taut and frowning.

"Is he like the local leader of the bandits or something?" pressed Rion as his Phoenix lifted the final crate.

"Something like that, yes. Now bring the last crate back and we can take it over to the Hunter Guild and get you your license."

---

After Rion had landed back aboard the Gefion, and Gerrol was busy inspecting every angle of the fighter and... cooing to it... Rion was about to head up to the bridge when he met Aisha coming into the hangar.

"Welcome back Rion! I see you didn't have any trouble."

"Not much. The VF-0 isn't too bad but it's a lot slower than what I'm used to. But now that that's all done with, is there something space-worthy that I can use to get back to Sepheela?" Rion began to grow uneasy as Aisha smiled nervously at him.

"Well, about that. You see Rion, you've arrived on Ouroboros at a very interesting time. This planet, as you might have noticed, is very unusual. Take the moons for example. Moons as close to Ouroboros as the ones we have should be causing all sorts of havoc... but they don't. And I'm sure you've noticed our floating islands."