Chapter 4 is here. It may be a few days till I get chapter 5 wrote. Not much really going on in this one.
Rick laid in bed holding his wife. It was the morning after the battle and the two of them spent a great deal of the night making love. Rick knew Lisa worried about him. The life of a fighter pilot was a dangerous one. Even as good as he was it only took one unlucky moment and he could be killed.
Rick also worried about her as well. He had already almost lost her and they both lost their unborn child. Even though Lisa lived threw it she was never able to return to duty. She spent a great deal of time in rehab before she could stand or walk with out needing to rest a great deal.
They both decided they would try to enjoy the time they had together. They talked about having kids. THey debated whether or not to wait till the issue with the Zentraedi was resolved or try right away. They decided to let things happen how ever they came. What ever happen they would not be separated from each other or any child or children they may have.
Rick was just laid there watching Lisa sleep when he heard the comm go off. Sliding out of bed without waking his wife Rick got up and put his robe on.
Rick answers the call "Lieutenant Commander Hunter."
"Commander this is Ensign Peterson on the bridge. We just got word that Admiral Hayes is on his way for a meeting here on the SDF-1. Also Admiral Thompson and Admiral Soto from the two defense fleets will also be here. Admiral Hayes requested that you and Commander Lisa Hunter meet him when he lands."
"Thank you Ensign, when is he do?"
"45 Minutes Commander."
"OK, we will be in the port side hanger bay waiting."
With that Rick hung up and went to wake his wife. Which Rick learned early in their marriage the first time was never fun.
R/L
Rick and Lisa where standing in the port fighter hanger bay as Admiral Hayes walked down the stairs of his shuttle. When he reached the bottom they both saluted.
"Welcome back aboard Admiral." Said an amused Lisa. "Though speaking as your favorite daughter could you have let me sleep another hour. It's only 6 AM."
"Your my only daughter." Donald then pulled his Lisa in for a hug before turning to his son-in-law "Rick I'm glad to see you made it threw the battle. I also let your parents and sister know you both where OK as the battle made the news."
"Thank you Admiral. I'm a little surprised the battle made the news."
"A few civilian observatories saw the individual fights. The UEG had to come out and release a statement. The RDF also will be giving news briefing later today. If you two could come with me we can go have this meeting."
Rick and Lisa lead Admiral Hayes to the conference room that the meeting will be held.
R/L
When every one arrived for the meeting they all talked about the battle. They went over battle damage and how well the ships and fighters weapon system worked against the enemy ships and fighters. They also talked about what they might do to improve tactics used by the fleets and improvement in defense assets used defend Earth. Dr Lang and others went over how they were going over all the data so that they could right simulation programs to improve training.
The meeting lasted several hours. They took a few breaks during the time which gave several senior officers that came with Admiral Hayes a chance to speak with those that were on the bridge and Roy and Rick who where the only pilots present.
Several Intel officers were also interviewing all the pilots on the SDF-1 and the bridge crew that where not in the buildings. They were also interviewing others on the other ships that participated in the battle. They also had salvage ships going to the destroyed Zentraedi ships. Signal Intel officers where also going over intercepted transmissions. The RDF was moving heaven and earth to gather everything they could about the enemy that attacked then incase they came back.
R/L
When the meetings were over Admiral Hayes joined Rick and Lisa for dinner in their quarters. Once dinner was done they moved to the sitting area.
"I got your e-mail Rick about your theory about who attack us and how it was we were attack two days early. I know there is no way for you to be a 100% about it but how sure are you all. You know Khyron better then me."
"Admiral if I was to put a percentage on it I would guess no more then 70%. There are to many possibilities out there to say a 100%. He didn't contact us for one thing. Which gives some doubt but there may be reasons for that."
"Dad if Breetai shows up tomorrow then it will give some credit to it being Khyron. If its Dolza or the Masters they would have hit us with a larger force. Khyron always saw us beneath him. He is arrogant to believe the fleet that attacked us with would be enough to wipe the planet out."
"Do you think he would have if he could have?"
"It is a possibility that he would. He hated the fact he never got the better of Rick when they battle. He hated Rick and made sure to try to kill him when he could."
"OK, I will be here on the ship if Breetai shows up. Well see what happens."
"Sir no disrespect but would it not be better for you to be on Earth to make sure thing went the way they need to go. If we have to fold out of here you could be stuck with us."
"If the SDF-1 has to fold I will take my shuttle back to Earth before you do. I'll have fighters from the 1st Defense Fleet cover my withdrawal. Don't worry Lisa if it becomes to dangerous my return will have to be delayed no more then a day or two. One of the escorts can bring me and my staff back."
For the rest of the night they talked of family. Donald wanted to know when they would give all of them grandparents. They made no promises.
R/L
The next day Rick and Lisa got up and had a quiet breakfast before Rick had to leave for his morning briefs. Lisa didn't need to be on shift for another hour so she decided to walk him to work. They knew today could be a good day or a bad day. SDF-1 was going to be the closes ship to where Breetai was suppose to fold in. They were down three escorts due to damage received the day before yesterday. They where all at the ship yards being repaired. Both the 1st and 2nd Defense Fleets would be in other areas incase an attack came in from a different direction. It would take 10 minutes to arrive to support the SDF-1 and her support.
When they arrived Rick took her in to a hug and held her for a few minutes before kissing her good-bye.
Quietly not to be over heard Lisa spoke to Rick "Be carefull I don't want to do this life without you by my side. We still have those kids we want to have one day."
"I will be as carefully as I can. You need to be carefully also. I know the bridge is more armored but I still worry."
With one more kiss Rick headed in to the briefing room while Lisa headed to the bridge.
R/L
When Lisa got to the bridge she was surprised to see her father on there. She headed to her station and received her brief from the grave yard shift. Once the lieutenant left she ran threw the daily checks on the equipment and checked the status of the CAP. She knew that Vermillion would be taking over in an hour along with Renegade Squadron. She was concentrating so hard she didn't hear her father come over to her station till he was standing next to her chair.
"Morning Lisa."
Lisa looked up and gave a small smile before looking back to her scope. "Morning Dad. Didn't expect to see you on the bridge this morning."
"Thought I would see how you all did things up here. It's been a while since I was on a bridge working a shift so I talked Henry in to letting me work a couple hours during the grave Yard and a few during the day shift. That and I wanted to be here while you where working."
"Hopefully it will be a good day. Rick will be launching in a hour to fly cap. Vermillion is doing patrols while Renegade is flying close up support for the fleet."
Donald just nodded, he could tell his daughter was just a little nervous about what might happen today. Truth be told he was too. Even if Breetai shows up like they expect there is no telling if the fleet that attacked the other day won't come back. Donald went back to the command chair and watched the crew work. There was some light chatterer and joking but all the bridge crew preformed their duties like the train pros they were.
An hour after coming on shift she heard Rick come over the TAC LANE.
"Vermillion squadron is all launched, starting our patrols."
"Roger Vermillion lead, safe flight." Lisa switch to private channel her and Rick used "Rick, just a heads up Dad is officer of the deck at the moment."
"OK, how does he like being on the bridge pulling a shift?"
"If I didn't know any better I would say he misses being in command of a ship. Be carefull Rick and call if you see anything."
"No problem Lisa and I will. Switching back to primary channel."
R/L
Rick had been on patrol with Max and Miriya on his wing for around 3 hours. They would be heading back to the ship in another hour unless Breetai showed up like they figured.
"Hey skipper."
"Yea go ahead Max."
"It's a little quiet out here. What do the others report?"
"The others report the same. I like quiet but I got a feeling it wont stay that way."
"Rick, your feelings make me nervous. They never mean anything good." Miriya teased.
"Well we have less then an hour then we head back so I can work on all that paperwork that never seems to end."
R/L
On the bridge Lisa was listening to the chatter between Rick and the others. Captain Gloval had taken command of the bridge an hour ago and her father was suppose to be on the auxiliary bridge.
Lisa decided to jump in "Rick that's what happens when you become the best pilots in the airwing. They give you more responsibility which leads to more paper work."
"Ha Ha Lisa. Maybe you will come down and give me a hand since it's your fault in the first place I work so hard so I can be good enough to be married to you."
That comment set the terrible trio off in a fit of giggles, that is till Vanessa reported a space fold forming outside the moons orbit in setter 33.5.
"Vermillion Lead this is command we have a space fold forming in sector 33.5"
"Roger command heading that way to see what we have."
Lisa turned back to listen as the Captain gave orders for the fleet. Lisa caught enough to know the SDF-1 was moving to interception range.
"Lisa order the rest of Vermillion to rendezvous with Commander Hunter. Also let Commander Hunter know I want him to stay back and not get close, we will meet up on him."
Lisa turned back to her equipment and gave the orders.
Vanessa called out "Captain fold complete. Looks like over a thousand ships." The Captain just nodded.
Lisa was sure this was Breetai's fleet. He arrived where he did last time and it looked about right for the time too. Looking over at Claudia wishing she could talk to her friend about this but her and Roy had not been told about the ones that came back.
R/L
"Lord Breetai. Space fold is now complete."
"Thank you Exedore."
A sensor operator called out "Sir we have ships moving in our direction from the third planet. Also we detect signs of a battle."
Breetai went over to his control board and pulled up the information. What he saw worried him. Here were a few fighters by the size of them moving towards them with larger ships coming up behind the fighter. He looked over the data about the report of a possible battle and saw destroyed Zentraedi ships.
"All ships hold position. Exedor, what do you make of this."
"It would seem one of two possibilities. One another Zentraedi commander followed Zor's ship here or two some Zentraedi ships ran across the planet and ended up in a battle they seem to have lost."
"Are we sure this is where Zor's ship ended up."
The finder beam followed the trail here. There is signs of two more folds but not close enough to the planet and to new to be Zor's ship."
"Lord Breetai the approaching ships have stopped outside weapons range. Also we detect two ore fleets that are a lot larger then the one in front of us."
"How many ships total?"
"70 ships. Most are smaller ships but a few are a bit larger and one that is quiet a bit bigger then the others."
So Breetai has arrived. Khyron did not show up in this chapter bt he will be back sooner or later. So we are now where the tv series started. This is AU so it won't follow how the show went but I will try to have some events take place. We still have some characters that yet to make an appearance.