"And now Rick, I have just one more thing to say... I love you! I always have, and I always will! " Lisa turned to Minmei, who had come out to see who was at the door with Rick. "Oh, please forgive me Minmei, I may never see him again and I had to tell him. Please take good care of him for me, will you? " Turning back to Rick, with tears in her eyes, Lisa saluted him and said, "Good bye Rick, I have to leave now, my crew is waiting for me!" With those final parting words, Lisa turned and with her long hair streaming behind her, took off like the devil was chasing her and ran towards the base.
Rick was stunned by Lisa's admission of love and it took him a minute to recover. He called out for Lisa to stop but she was already halfway down the street. Her words had freed him to admit what he had been thinking earlier, that as lovely and sweet as Minmei was, he wasn't in love with her and that being a part of the RDF meant more to him that he thought. More importantly, he realized how much Lisa meant to him as well.
Rick started to run after Lisa, but was stopped by Minmei.
"No Rick, you can't even think about going back into space. You've done enough already and what about me?" cried Minmei, holding onto Rick's arm, keeping him from running after Lisa. She had known the moment Lisa had shown up at he door that it meant trouble for her newly reestablished relationship with Rick and she wasn't ready to let him go.
Anxious to catch up with Lisa before it was too late, Rick turned to look at the woman holding onto his arm. "Minmei, I'm sorry, I can't be what you want me to be. I'm a soldier." Gently prying her fingers from his arm, Rick took Minmei by the shoulders and said, "You deserve someone that can give you all of him and unfortunately, that's not me. I'm sorry, I hope that one day you can forgive me. If you think about it, you know I am right, you wouldn't have been happy living the life of a pilot's wife, especially when you should be doing what your're so good at doing, inspiring people with your singing."
Minmei opened her mouth to protest but her words were drowned out by an explosion that rocked the city, coming from the location in which Lisa had run towards. With a panicked look on his face, Rick quickly give Minmei instructions to get to the nearest shelter and ran off calling Lisa's name.
Rick searched for Lisa unsuccessfully in the rubble and downed buildings. Not finding her and hoping she made it to the base in time, Rick realized that he needed to get to his fighter and squad as soon as possible and ran the remaining way to the base.
Rick quickly dressed and boarded Skull One and was quickly relieved to her Max greet him after takeoff. "Glad you made it boss, Zentraedi cruiser headed our way, we think it's Khyron's. We need to get out there and head him off as best we can."
"Thanks Max, have you heard from Captain Hayes?" asked Rick rather anxiously.
"Yeah, she was a little shaken up, but made it to the SDF-2 and launched the SDF-2 to take the offensive." replied Max.
Rick glad to hear that Lisa was safe, gave his team their orders and took off in pursuit of the cruiser.
Lisa couldn't believe that that she finally confessed her feelings to Rick. She knew that she couldn't expect Rick to reciprocate her feelings, especially since he was living with Minmei, but it felt good to get it off her chest. As she ran back towards the base and the SDF-2, from out of nowhere two missiles went screaming overhead and took out two large buildings under construction. Fearing for her life, Lisa ran harder as additional missiles were fired and buildings collapsed and fires started. Luckily, a seargant driving a military jeep headed for base saw Lisa running and picked her up and quickily drove her to base. Finally reaching the bridge of the SDF-2, Lisa quickly took command, receiving information on the position of enemy cruiser and status reports of the ship's readiness.
Assessing the situation, Lisa knew that the SDF-2 and the SDF-1 were sitting ducks unless she could get the SDF-2 into the air. Issuing takeoff orders, the SDF-2 was released from its moorings and rose into the air and started to advance towards the enemy cruiser to try and protect the SDF-1.
Admiral Global on the SDF-1, opened communications with Captain Hayes. "Lisa, I want you to be prepared to fold if you have to, we can't allow the SDF-2 to be destroyed. Promise me that you will attempt the fold if you feel necessary."
With a shaky voice, Lisa agreed and contined to advance and fire on the enemy ship.
It didn't take long for Global and Capt. Hayes to realize that more drastic measures were needed to defeat Khyron's cruiser. After a quick discussion, they determined the best course of action and Lisa ordered that the fold system be activated. The plan was to position themselves right over the cruiser so that when the SDF-2 folded, a portion of Khyron's cruiser would be taken with it into space, enabling the SDF-1 to destroy the remainder of the cruiser with its main gun.
As the SDF-2 advanced on the enemy ship, Sammie notified all the fighters to get clear of the enemy cruiser and the SDF-2.
Max opened a channel to Rick, who was shooting down some of the enemy pods and said, "Boss, did out hear that, we gotta clear the area, what do you think the SDF-2 is gonna do?"
"I dunno Max, but we better get our afterburners on and get out of here and let's hope that it isn't a repeat performance of overheating the pinpoint barrier."
As Max and Rick and the other fighters started to clear the battlefield, Rick reflected on the fact that he didn't get a chance to tell Lisa that he loved her.
Deciding not to waste a single more minute in telling her, as there maybe some chance that he didn't return, Rick opened up channels with the SDF-2 to try and see if he could talk to her.
As Sammie responded, she didn't allow Rick a word. "I'm sorry, Capt. Hunter but now is not a good time.." Disconnecting the visual link but not the audio, Rick continued to hear the conversation on the bridge of the SDF-2. He could hear Sammie calling out the updated status, "All fighters are cleared of the fold field and we are 30 seconds from being right over the Zentraedi cruiser."
Rick could hear Lisa's reply, "Thanks Sammie, on my mark, initiate the fold process... Initiate Fold!