A/N: Sorry guys I know it has been a long time since I have updated this story. Aside from the really important event that I had to plan (I just got married last March) I had a couple of other projects to work on (my wedding album which I am creating myself) and new classes I had to prep for. All this put a stop to many of my more creative hobbies (I have not written anything or drawn anything since last December). This chapter was written on a mini-vacation I took with my husband in July and it has taken me this long to finally sit down and type it all up.
I am glad to say it is one of my longest chapters as of yet so I hope you enjoy it. Things are starting to shape up for the story itself and I am getting closer to the juiciest scenes in the story :D I wanted to point out that the chapter takes place in 2 different time frames. It starts 2 weeks after the ending of Chapter 6 and it goes back to the morning after. I tried to make it as clear as possible but please let me know if it worked out.
Thanks very much for my wonderful beta Dwparsnip for his great help in making sure this all makes sense. I swear D. I will try harder with those "on" & "in"!
Again, sorry for those who are waiting for an update on Spacefold, especially Sphersian who has asked me about it. I swear it is not abandoned and I have started typing some of it but the next chapter is not completed yet… hopefully soon.
Without further ado…
Chapter 7 – The First Defeat
"Disengage!" Lisa ordered. "Everybody return to base."
"What?" Daigo exclaimed in surprise. "We are not cowards. I will not return."
"I order you to disengage right now." Lisa said more forcefully.
"Roger that base, we are turning around." Rick's voice was the first one to come thru the comm. channels. After that, Max, Miriya and Roy echoed the acknowledgement and followed the command. Vince's unit turned around, marching straight thru Mechakon's formation.
Lisa could hear Barry echoing the order to his own troops. Her eyes stayed glued to the monitors where she could see Daigo struggling to keep fighting. Under the gigantic robot's legs, men from the volunteer forces were still fighting, ignoring Barry's orders of retreat. She turned her attention from them, confident in their ability to follow Barry's orders if not hers.
Looking at the other monitors, she could see Kogo fighting solo, a man obviously accustomed to doing things his own way. Anger at his disregard for her orders bubbled briefly but she tamped down quickly, and she reflected that he would come back when there was nobody else to fight with. Looking toward Mai and Takeru, the couple in the fighter robots which were still on the battlefield, it was obvious to see that the only reason why Mai stayed was to guard Takeru's back. Lisa thought that while he stayed there, Mai would not leave. Since they were also stopping the advance of the enemy and aiding the retreat of their troops, she let them be.
When Lisa turned to the last of the attack groups, she realized that all was not well with the female-looking robot piloted by Sayaka. She had been, apparently, in the process of following her orders but the creature robot that she had been fighting seemed to have a different opinion. The strange looking creature was relentlessly attacking the vulnerable woman. Lisa rapidly established communication with her, cursing mentally at the inability of her troops to communicate with her unless she opened the channel herself or they were in the confines of the base.
"Sayaka, are you alright?"
"Captain, I am trying to retreat..." A scream cut off the communication and Lisa could see the cowering form of the robot as she tried to make herself a smaller target for the enemy fire.
Lisa turned her attention to the others and she realized that Daigo's robot was the closest in position to help Sayaka.
"Daigo, I need you to help Sayaka, she's caught by enemy fire."
"I am busy right now."
"This is an order! Her robot is heavily damaged. Kogo, Takeru & Mai, I need assistance for Sayaka. I also need backup to lead the volunteer forces away from enemy fire."
"Why don't you ask for your team to do it instead of having them run away?" Daigo commented bitterly.
Lisa gritted her teeth against the comment she was about to tell him when she was interrupted by Rick's face appearing on the comm. screen.
"Captain Hayes, we're still on stand-by, we could help with their escape." Rick had already reached the confines of the base and he had been following the other's progress with growing concern.
Lisa did not want to send the team out again so soon after they had reached the base. Some of them might be dangerously close to needing refueling and she had no idea how long they would be able to last if they went back. She was loath to send them back against the overwhelming odds, and yet…
"Air forces, please stand by, I might need your assistance. Damn it Daigo move right now, Sayaka will not hold much longer."
Precious minutes ticked by in which the enemy forces kept pressing on, heavily damaging the volunteer brigade. Overlaid to their panicked screams, Barry's insistent orders to return to base could be heard, creating a digital chatter that reflected the chaos of their forces.
Finally Mai left Takeru and went to help Sayaka. Her action prompted a reluctant Takeru to help carry the, by now, heavily damaged female robot off of the battlefield. Daigo, seeing himself surrounded and finally seeing the damage done to the troops, created enough of a diversion for them to escape, carrying in his big robotic hands those that were too damaged to make it out. In the meantime Kogo was still flying around, hitting as many of the enemy ships as he could but their numbers were too many.
After the brigade made their limping retreat, Daigo left, the other three robots trailing him as they struggled with the unresponsive robot. The lone Kogo stayed for a minute longer until something made him pause in mid-strike and after that hesitation he made his way back to the base.
Rick and the Macross forces stayed guarding the perimeter of Santore until the last of the fighters came back. As soon as they were all safe, he gave the order to go in. He knew there was another battle brewing and this one would be inside of the base. Rick felt an urgent need to return to the hangar. He had a promise to keep. After all, he had pledged, if only to himself, to support Lisa in situations like these.
It had all started at that disastrous meeting in which he had realized the tremendous workload Lisa was shouldering.
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Two weeks ago
Rick had barely slept that night, his mind kept replaying, not the meeting itself, but the expression in Lisa's eyes. He kept seeing the slight slump in the proud shoulders which seemed to be caving under the task that had been appointed to her. After much reflection and soul searching, he decided he could not let things go as they had gone. He could not think of letting her take on that responsibility by herself, not because he didn't think that she was capable, but because he knew she would do it until it broke her.
He had already seen the vulnerability in her and he knew he would not be able to work everyday alongside her without helping her in what he knew was well beyond his abilities to do. Aside from that, some of the many responsibilities that had been tied to his job while in Macross, had been eliminated by the arrangements in Santore. His work was a bit simpler here and he had to admit he was at loss with the extra hours.
So by one o'clock that morning, he had the hazy beginnings of a plan that involved integrating himself to Lisa's good graces and helping out the stubborn woman even if the inevitable fights killed them on the process.
So the next day Rick put his plan into motion. That morning he walked into the storage area looking for his CO. In his hands he carried two cups of coffee and under his arm he had his ever present clipboard. Spying his quarry, he walked resolutely toward her.
"Good morning Admiral Gloval, Captain Hayes."
Both Lisa and Henry saluted him but he could not return the salute because his hands were full.
"Are you planning on drinking both cups Captain Hunter?" Henry's voice was bland although there was a hint of mischievous curiosity hidden under his heavy accent. He was, as everybody that had seen Rick in the mornings, very aware of Rick's affliction at this time.
"Oh, no" Rick exclaimed, his ears starting to burn in a bit of embarrassment at having to do this in front of the Admiral. "This is for you." He said as he extended the still steaming cup to a surprised Lisa.
Lisa grabbed the cup unthinkingly while she looked at Rick's face as if trying to determine the reason for the offering. Rick's expression on his very open face was the answer she needed to understand where that gesture had come from.
"Hunter, I do not need your pity." Lisa said frostily, her arm making an abortive gesture to return the coffee.
"It's not pity." Rick rushed to say. He avoided looking at the Admiral as he felt like a five year old that had been reprimanded. He kept looking at Lisa's face, thinking that he had to make sure he did not antagonize her and feeling that he had already failed in that. "I just want to talk to you about the status of the armaments and I'd much rather that you are caffeinated for it." Rick told her, adding just the right amount of defensiveness in his voice to make it believable.
Lisa gave him a suspicious look but then apparently decided to let it slide. She was not about to reject the precious caffeine that might help her after the long night she'd just gone thru. She was pleasantly surprised after taking a sip that Rick had managed to prepare it just the way she liked it.
Rick felt the tension drain from him as soon as she took the first sip and he saw the little smile she had after it. His own smile was wobbly as he took a sip of his coffee. He felt the same way than when he returned home from a skirmish.
Henry was suppressing a smile as he watched them interact. At least he was glad that he would be able to leave the whole mission in capable hands. No matter what their personal problems were, he knew they would be able to work together. Deciding they needed a few minutes to overcome the shyness that seemed to overtake them, he excused himself and walked a few paces away.
Both Captains looked bemused at being left by themselves and they covered it by drinking from their respective beverages. After the first few minutes, Rick was the first to screw up his courage and ask, "So, are you ready now to face my report?"
Lisa pulled a face and said, "Can't say I am ready, especially since I have a feeling I will not like the status of things…" She cut off at the overly exaggerated expression on Rick's face that indicated her fears were not unfounded. "Thanks Hunter now I see why you were buttering me up." She said, nodding towards the coffee.
Rick gave her an unrepentant smile and with that exchange they were back to the easy camaraderie that had allowed them to work together many times. There was just a subtle change this time that neither of them acknowledged. Rick was determined to make this work and Lisa was determined to treat him as she would Max or Roy, with friendship and nothing more.
"As much as I would love to…" She stressed the word and injected a world of sarcasm in it. "I have other plans for this morning." Seeing Rick's dejected frown, she added, "it should not take me too long, and you are more than welcome to join us." She said, indicating the Admiral who was still a few paces away.
"What for?"
"The last of the allies are about to land in a couple of minutes. Admiral Gloval and I are going to meet them. After that I was planning to gather everybody's reports and try to decipher them. I am glad that you will be able to help me with yours by the way because I need to make sure I am ready for the meeting later today."
Rick knew about the meeting and in fact had been counting on it as his ace in case he needed to soften her up into allowing his help. He did a quick mental count of the allies that had already arrived and those that had been presented in the initial meeting and he came up with the final name.
"Is this Kogo, the guy that's been travelling through the galaxy?"
"Yes, he is." Lisa said, smiling warmly at him for remembering the detail. "The only good thing about him might be his ability to take orders from a woman." Lisa said bitterly. Seeing Rick's confusion, she explained further. "He is escorting Princess Aurora to the center of the galaxy. From my understanding she's the one giving all the orders."
"Oh, he's the one from that group." Rick specified, remembering now the conversation that had stemmed in the meeting about that specific group's ideas of saving the galaxy with the power of a single woman.
Lisa made a humming sound to acknowledge his sentiment but she did not smile at his joke. "I have been looking at their ideas and there is more to them than what we were exposed to." At his incredulous look, she continued to explain. "I am also a bit biased as I know the person spearheading the whole expedition."
"You do? How?" Rick asked, puzzled.
"We used to be neighbors, my parents and her. She had a foster daughter who was my age. We used to play together. So as you can imagine I am biased in my opinions." She said with a small smile.
Rick seemed to digest that little tidbit of information and Lisa stayed silent, possibly remembering her childhood friend. A movement from the corner of his eye reminded him of the Admiral's continued presence.
"I thought the Admiral was leaving for Macross yesterday." Rick commented, changing the subject.
"Oh, he had his reasons for staying." She said with a mysterious smile. Rick looked at her, puzzled. "You will see."
"Admiral, Captain, the ship has already here." Rosette said as she came in.
"Thank you Rosette." Lisa responded. She looked towards Henry who gave her a subtle nod. "Will you join us?" Lisa invited him again and Rick's curiosity was piqued. He wanted to meet this woman who had been Lisa's neighbor and he wanted to find out why the Admiral was convulsively, if unconsciously, smoothing his jacket.
When they reached the hangar, they saw two small ships which had landed. Around them was a cluster of people from Santore and those who Rick assumed were from the galaxy explorers. As they reached them, they parted into two groups and Rick could finally see the newcomers clearly.
One of them, a tall willowy dark-haired woman stepped forward, clearly the leader of the group. Rick tried to determine her age. It was really hard to pinpoint because she had a sort of ageless appearance but she seemed to be anywhere between 40 to mid-fifties although he guessed it was more of the latter. Her features were smooth and elegant and she carried herself with an air of self-confidence. Next to her was a short man who had a balding head and a full beard that connected all the way back with whatever was left of his hair. They made an odd couple, with her being so tall and him barely reaching past the woman's shoulder. The last member had to be the infamous Kogo. The man had yet to take off his helmet but his dark brown eyes scrutinized them as they approached. By the intensity of his gaze, Rick could see why this guy could be considered dangerous.
"Henry! It's been years. How have you been?" Dr. Sandra Kitt greeted the Admiral warmly and Lisa turned her head slightly towards Rick and gave him a discreet smile. Rick's eyes widened a fraction and then he looked straight on to the nearest wall. He was afraid of being indiscreet and letting his mouth fall open.
"I am doing well Sandra." There was a hesitant, semi-awkward moment in which they shared a private look. Henry was the first to snap out of it and said, "You do remember Lisa Hayes, Donald and Elizabeth Hayes' daughter?"
"Lisa? Oh, Dear Lord child, it's been so long!" She said as she approached the young Captain and embraced her warmly.
"It has been a long time. I trust you have been well?" Dr. Kitt smiled and nodded. Lisa hesitated for a moment and asked, "How is…"
"My daughter is doing fine, thanks for asking." The woman cut her off. "We shall need to meet and exchange stories." She said with a meaningful glance to her and at that moment, Lisa's suspicions were confirmed. It was no coincidence that the name of the Princess who was travelling to the center of the galaxy was the same as her childhood friend.
To cover up the silent message, Lisa turned to the other member of their party. "Dr. Kitt may I present Captain Hunter of the Macross fleet?"
"Pleased to meet you ma'am." He extended his hand to shake hers. He instantly liked her; she had a no-nonsense attitude that reminded him a bit of his Captain.
"Admiral, Captains, may I introduce Dr. Dodge Rogers? He has been my partner in many investigations for many years and has been invaluable with our latest venture." The little man beamed up at them. "He was part of the initial expedition to the Visitor."
Lisa noticed Rick's puzzled expression and explained. "That's the initial name that was given to the SDF-1."
"And let me introduce you to the last member of our team, Jan Kogo." Dr. Kitt motioned to the sullen young man who had by now taken off his helmet. "Jan was escorting Princess Aurora to the center of the galaxy but this mission was too important to not require his cooperation."
Kogo did not seem to agree with that assessment but he did step forward and nod to the RDF forces.
"We are glad you all were able to join us. It is indeed a very important mission." Admiral Gloval said. "We are especially happy you will be sharing your expertise with us, not only with your knowledge of the universe," he said, nodding to Dr. Sandra, "but your knowledge of weaponry and cybertronics." He finished and Dr. Dodge puffed his chest a bit in pride.
"I'll be very glad to see some of my old colleagues as well. Last I heard Dr. Lang will be here, yes?" Dr. Dodge asked as they started to move from the hangar into the body of Santore.
"Yes he is." Admiral Gloval confirmed.
"I've not seen him since our time in the Visitor." The older man commented wistfully as he struggled to keep up with the longer strides of the others.
The older members of the little party chitchatted with each other while the younger members followed along in silence. Rick and Lisa walked together behind the Admiral and the two scientists while Kogo trailed a couple of steps behind the young captains. Walking respectfully behind, the welcoming party from Santore was waiting to lead the newcomers to their rooms.
When they finally reached the hallway that branched off between the civilian and military barracks and the military offices, the young captains saluted the group and separated from them with a promise from Lisa to meet up with Dr. Kitt later.
After moving away from the rest of the party, Lisa had a faraway look on her face and Rick wondered what memory was playing in her mind. Rick wondered what Lisa's childhood was like; up to this point he had not thought of her outside of the everyday life of work and now he was trying to imagine Lisa as a little girl. With that thought in mind, they walked in silence the rest of the way to Lisa's office.
Hours later, after going over the reports and preparing for the strategic meeting, Rick and Lisa walked into the cacophony of the room where they were meeting. Lisa's step faltered briefly as she saw the chaos of the Mechakon forces as they tried to get assembled in some sort of order. The Macross forces were already sitting down and waiting patiently although their somewhat horrified gazes were travelling across the room following the Mechakon mess.
Rick noticed Lisa's hesitation and he stopped next to her. "Tough crowd." He commented giving her an understanding smile. His efforts earned him a roll of green eyes and a delicate snort as Lisa led them to the front of the room where the rest of the presenters were waiting.
After they had met this morning, Lisa had asked Rick if he felt comfortable enough to present the armament report which he agreed to with some hesitation. He had at least been gratified to see the relief on her face when he finally accepted.
The speakers were a rather large and varied group. Exedore and Dr. Lang, who they had barely seen since they landed in Santore were there, as well as Admiral Gloval who would be leaving right after the meeting. Saori and Barry would speak for the Mechakon side and many of the other scientific eminencies were sitting in the front row, ready in case their expertise was needed.
Saori, as the knowledge behind Santore, explained the purpose of the building as a fortress to shelter the civilians that had been saved from Viktor Town. She spoke of the hundreds that had stayed behind when the Mechakon forces could not save all of them and how many were still trapped.
Commander Barry spoke to them about the Mechakon forces and a brief history of the Madokters, their enemies, that had taken Viktor Town. To this day it was still a mystery what the Madokters were searching for in Viktor Town or what their purpose was in taking over.
Admiral Gloval recounted the story of the "Visitor" with many of the scientists that had been there recounting their experiences. Lisa got a calculating look in her eyes as soon as many of the scientists mentioned the samples of the materials found in the SDF-1 that they had taken to examine.
In fact, the more the other scientists talked, the more of a clearer picture she started to get. After all, many of the major groups that were now fighting as allies had at some point been in or investigated the alien ship and its substances after it landed. And many of them had used some sort of derivation from those materials to develop the robotic guardians they used to defend the Earth. Lisa scribbled a quick note to herself to investigate the scientific aspect of the mechas they all had.
Rick talked about the weapons they had and remarked on the need to maintain some of the armaments. He talked about what he had found as deficient and as a definite lack based on what he knew of the different enemy forces and their previous encounter with them. Most of his recommendations were taken note by the scientists that created or provided updates for the robots and who would take on the challenge of updating their forces.
Finally Exedore and Admiral Gloval spoke about the Zentraedi to give a bit of a background on the giant's forces.
"The Zentraedi are a race of warriors that do not know anything about civilian life." Admiral Gloval explained. "Everything that is our civilian culture is new to them, songs for example had an almost hypnotizing effect on them. One of the things that we noticed in our interactions with them is that normal interaction between men and women were quite shocking to the point of almost paralyzing their actions. We have in fact found out that something we take for granted like a kiss between a man and a woman can actually render them incapable of battle because of their confusion."
"You mean to tell me that a kiss can actually be used as a diversionary tactic?" One of the young men asked.
"Yes, if you want to put it that way…" Admiral Gloval responded.
"Damn, why didn't we get those aliens as enemies?" Daigo grumbled loudly.
The whole room erupted with laughter.
"So it will be easy then to distract them, we just smooch a coupla women and we are done." One of the cocky soldiers from Mechakon remarked. Many of the men cheered on to the disgust of the Macross women.
"It is not as easy as that anymore. Even though we have used songs as distraction tactics before many of the Zentraedi forces are already "immune" to those effects by now. There are still Zentraedi that are new to this but there is no way to tell from the two groups."
"What I don't understand is what they are all planning to do if they are successful. Are they all going to share the Earth?" Sayaka raised her hand and asked.
"Maybe it's a matter of getting rid of a common enemy and then the alliance is off and they have to fend for themselves. It has been a common tactic of generals in the past." Mai remarked.
"No, that's not really it. After all, the Zentraedi are not interested in staying on Earth. The only reason they came here is for the SDF-1." Exedore commented.
"Well the Izzari are definitely here to stay. Their planet blew up. They need a new planet to live. They just need to make it livable for them." Mai commented.
"How about the Madokters?" Lisa asked.
"Nobody really knows. They have been here for over a millennia, from what we have been told by a POW. Their influence has been over all major wars as far back as the Egyptians." Saori commented.
Everybody paled.
"Do we still have this POW?" Lisa asked.
"Unfortunately we lost her in a battle but we kept a recording of the story. It's been transcribed and given to you in your notes." Barry told her and she remembered the DVD that was included with the notes. She had not gotten to it yet and she made a point of reviewing it as soon as possible.
"That still doesn't give us enough information on their motives." Exedore commented. They all realized that they were back to where they had started, with all of that information but no connection as of yet.
A thoughtful silence filled the room. At that moment, Admiral Gloval decided to make his last announcement.
"As many all of you are aware, Captain Lisa Hayes will be the Executive Commanding officer of this mission. I shall now announce the rest of the positions:
Captain Roy Fokker, Chief Commanding Air Force Officer.
Captain Barry Hawke, Chief Commanding Officer for the Ground Forces.
Captain Rick Hunter, Tactical Officer and Chief Commanding Officer for Special Forces."
Rick snapped to attention when he heard his name and it took all he had to act normal. Simultaneously, he noticed the little start Lisa gave and the quick look of surprise she shot Admiral Gloval which was rapidly masked as well. So, she had not known either. Rick wondered when Gloval had come up with that little diabolical idea. They all knew this post would have him working closely with Lisa so even if he had not decided to help her of his own accord, this position would have. He was glad he had made the decision anyways so she would not think he was being forced into helping her. But what did Gloval mean about Special Forces? He turned his attention to what the Admiral was saying and almost groaned out loud. Apparently that meant he would be in charge of the ragtag group of robots and other mecha that did not fit into the ground or air categories. From the looks of pity he received from his friends, they all felt the same way about his assignment.
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Present time (or a few hours before the chapter starts)
"So what do you guys think of our two lovebirds, hey? Are we ready to start planning what to do with the bet money?" Roy said with a leer as he sat down at the same table as Claudia, Max, Miriya, Vince and Jean. Absent as always during the last couple of weeks were the "lovebirds" in question.
"Roy, you cannot seriously believe that Rick and Lisa are doing anything else but work!" Claudia reprimanded him. "What do you think he is doing? Romancing her?"
"What do you mean? He brings her coffee every morning and they stay "working" together till late…" he said with a wiggle of his eyebrows.
Jean and Vince both laughed, knowing that Rick and Lisa were doing exactly what they said they were doing… everybody could see that the only thing they had was a working relationship and nothing more.
"Roy, your little brother is NOT like you." Claudia said with a stern face, even if her lips were twitching at the air of confusion on his face. "They are actually working all the time."
Roy gave a defeated sigh. "You're probably right, Rick really doesn't know how to take an opportunity like that even if it bit him in the butt."
"He's just being nice and helping her out with her duties. He was just telling me the other day all of the things they had to rearrange, most of it dealing with Lisa's duties." Max explained.
"Well since you put it that way, you might be right. Although, you know how Rick is, he has a thing for damsels in distress."
"What do you mean?" Jean asked; she was totally intrigued by this saga. It was still new enough to her to be interesting.
"He likes to help girls that are in trouble or vulnerable. Take Minmay for example. When he first saw her, she was just a regular girl but as soon as she was in trouble, boom! She was a magnet he was attracted to."
"Lisa always seems so strong. How did he even pay attention to her then?" Jean asked, trying to poke a hole on his theory.
"Sara Base." All, except for Vince who was just as clueless as his wife, told her.
"Exactly. In Sara Base he had to rescue her from the base where her fiancé died and she was pretty vulnerable." Roy explained to the newcomers to the saga. "Can't hurt it's the first time he sees her in that tight flight suit." Claudia smacked him in the arm. "What! I mean that in a nice brotherly way."
"Really." She replied, unconvinced.
"Anyways, keeping up with my story, he lost interest as soon as she went back to being her usual independent self."
"But she went back to being vulnerable again." Max pointed out. They all nodded in understanding.
"What happens when she doesn't need to depend on him anymore?" Miriya asked. She knew Lisa and she would not stay down for long.
All of them looked kind of depressed by the idea.
"It's like a vicious circle." Jean gloomily predicted.
"I hope he finally realizes what a good woman she is." Vince said. He truly admired Captain Hayes as a woman and as a commander.
"I just hope he finally makes up his mind between the two!" Roy said and they all gave him dirty looks. "Well obviously I want it to be Lisa but the indecision is driving me insane!"
"And Lisa needs to move on if that's the case." Ever practical Max pointed out.
They all nodded gloomily at the thought.
Lisa was making a similar assessment of the situation. At the beginning she had been hurt thinking that he had felt pity for her or obligated by his task but the more she worked with him the more she realized it was neither of the two.
There were moments when she wanted to push him away and refuse his help, feeling that his presence would make her vulnerable and fall again. But as time passed she realized that she really would not be able to do it all by herself and she was grateful for his ideas. There was no denying that Rick was a good leader and he was a good springboard for ideas. Slowly she started to accept his presence and his help as she would of any of her friends.
There were times though when she had to catch herself and wonder at his motives. One of those times had been just a few minutes ago.
Rick had been taking a look at the reports of her research she had prepared and had commented: "Wow, you're really amazing."
Lisa looked at him suspiciously then. If it had been anybody else, she would have taken the remark in one of two ways, that he was being sarcastic or that he was flirting with her.
At her silence, Rick looked at her and seeing the funny look on her face, he asked, "Did I say something wrong?"
Lisa mentally rolled her eyes. Of course it was only a friendly comment. She could find nothing but sincerity in his eyes. Sometimes Rick could be so charmingly naïve!
Lisa gave him a smile and with a small laugh she said, "Nothing is wrong. Thank you. Do you want some tea?"
Rick looked a bit stunned for a minute, like he was having trouble following but agreed to the tea.
Lisa called for the tea and it was brought in a couple of minutes later by no other than Ryoma. Rick, who was sitting next to her, heard her quiet groan.
He was about to ask when the Japanese man went straight to her and made a fuss about her drink. He kept asking Lisa about the different choices he had brought until Rick noticed her exasperation and told him it would be fine, they could both handle it.
"I live to serve. Are you sure you want me to retire?" Ryoma asked, his eyes only on Lisa.
Lisa blushed and avoided looking at Rick. It was embarrassing enough whenever Ryoma did this, it was worse when somebody else was witnessing it and Rick of all people…
"Yes, thank you for your trouble Ryoma." She said after a while when he had not moved but stayed looking at her with cow eyes.
"You are very welcome, I merely recognize the beauty before me." And with a small bow, he left.
Lisa breathed a sigh of relief as soon as he left. Rick was looking at her puzzled. "Just ignore him he does this all the time. It's annoying but… he has not been offensive, on the contrary."
"Still if it makes you uncomfortable…" he told her, although he was looking at her with a strange look on his face, as if he was just seeing her for the first time.
"What? Do I have something on my face?"
"No, no, sorry." He stammered and pretended to go back to the reports. But even if his eyes were looking at them, his thoughts were on what he had seen.
Lisa was attractive after all. He had mentioned that to her in the past too. He didn't know why she would be embarrassed at seeing somebody tell her so. Even he had been distracted when he'd seen her in the fatigues.
"Here you go." She said, putting the tea cup in his line of vision.
Rick murmured his thanks and watched her sit down, pulling a folder towards her. She gracefully managed to balance both tasks and in that instant Rick wondered if Lisa had any romantic interests. He had never seen her with anybody. It was a real pity; after all, it would be sad if she was lonely. He knew better than to ask her though, he knew how broken up she was about her fiancé and he really did not want to stir any sad memories.
And with that, Rick put the whole episode behind him. He did not have a lot of time to think about it after when all hell broke loose.
"Khyron! What do you think you are doing?" Commander Radar from the Izzari forces asked. He had been given the onerous task of regulating the communications port .
Khyron continued to strap himself into his mecha as he responded, "I'm showing the Micronians the might of our combined forces." The Zentraedi warrior responded, the fire of battle ignited in his wild eyes.
"You idiot! We did not want to reveal all of our power now. We want to sneak it in on them the next time they attack." The robotic alien tried to reason with the battle crazed warrior. He should have known better than to try to stop a Zentraedi warrior that had been cooped up without fighting for weeks.
"You're slow and useless. You're putting us to do useless work when I can make the Micronian army tremble in the face of our power. I will crush them."
"Khyron! Come back Khyron." The Commander screamed but Khyron just turned off communications with the base and gave the command to depart.
Rick and Lisa jumped up and moved out of the office as soon as the alarms blared. Subconsciously they were both expecting the attack. They had after all, two weeks of relative peace. They knew it would not last for too long. What neither of them imagined was the immensity to the attack headed their way.
As Lisa stood in the command post, she felt a sinking feeling as she regarded the magnitude of the forces approaching them. They were apparently trying to get back one of the little citadels closest to Santore that had been hard won by the Mechakon a few months back.
After grueling hours of battle, and seeing the sorry state of the troops, Lisa had decided to give the order to retreat.
"The cowards are retreating." Grell commented.
"Of course they cannot battle the might of the Zentraedi. Now finish off those that have remained." Khyron ordered and then proceeded to do just that.
When there were no more Micronians because they were either dead at his hands or had retreated like cowards, he returned to his own base, basking in the feeling of the battle that still raged in his veins.
When the last one had returned to base and Lisa felt secure enough in leaving the command center, she, along with Saori and Claudia hurried to the receiving platform, weaving their way between the Aid Corps which were scattered around helping the injured. Lisa did not look around but headed straight to where Barry and Daigo were locked in a confrontation. None of them noticed an angry Koji making his way from the other side.
"She gave the order to disengage and I repeated it. Why did you not follow it?" Barry's raised voice reached the three women.
"We could've held our own if our so-called support had not left us in the middle of battle!" The younger man said.
"They left because they actually followed my orders." Lisa stated and both men turned to her.
"You! What kind of help are you going to provide if you leave us stranded in the middle of a battle?"
"You would not have been stranded if you would have followed my orders." She replied calmly, disregarding his angry tone and shaking fists. "The odds were too overwhelming in their favor so of course I'm going to ask my men, all my men, to come back. That order included you too."
"Well I'm not a coward who turns and runs in the middle of a fight! That's just showing weakness, but I guess that's what we get when we have a woman in command." He finished blithely, causing Lisa's face to tighten in anger.
"Women should stay off of the battlefield." Came a new voice before Lisa could formulate a response. "Case in point with her." Kogo said pointing to Sayaka who was being helped by Mai. They both flashed him murderous looks, however the response did not come from them but from Rick who had by now approached the center of the discussion.
"We have excellent female pilots who are brilliant on the battlefield, an excellent example is Miriya." He said, pointing to the Zentraedi warrior. "And by the way, some of the deadliest and most ruthless pilots from the enemy were female fighters. The reason why Sayaka was injured was because she needed backup when she was retreating and there was nobody to watch her back. We're all a team and you would never do that to a team member or any of the females in your troop, now would you?" Rick said, not addressing Kogo anymore but Daigo who just shrugged.
In the lull caused by that accusation, Koji burst out of the crowd and sucker punched Daigo who went down immediately, not expecting the attack. Barry and some of the other men held him back while the angry man screamed at the shocked man.
"I heard the Captain telling you to help Sayaka! She could've been dead if it had not been for Mai. How dare you!" He struggled more against the men holding him back while Daigo just sat there, his hand touching his jaw assessing the damage of the punch.
"Stop it all of you or I will have you thrown in the brig for brawling." Lisa's calm commanding voice broke thru Koji's anger and the little scuffles that had broken out in the periphery of their circle. "Mr. Kabuto, please take Sayaka and make sure that she is okay. We will speak later." The man turned to her and even if he was not part of the military, he obeyed her without question. He knew she was giving him an out even though there would be hell to pay for a civilian interfering with the military. He hoped she would never find out he had been ready to take out Mazinger if he had not realized in time that Mai was helping Sayaka. He had a feeling the Captain would not take to that news that well.
Barry let him go and so did the others, nobody moving while he crossed over to Sayaka. He paused in front of Mai and thanked her, giving Takeru an assessing look and then taking Sayaka's arm to lead her to the triage.
"Mr. Kogo, I will not respond to your accusation as Captain Hunter has already addressed that. The only thing I will add is that no matter the gender, when we are on the battlefield we are all a team. You are to back them up no matter who they are. If you have a problem with that then you can be dismissed to your other mission." Kogo gave her an angry look and walked away seemingly to do just that.
Lisa then turned to Daigo. "Mr. Otaki, your actions today put a lot of people in danger. Regardless of my orders, you did not follow those of your other superior." She said indicating Barry. Even worse, your insubordination caused the rest of the troop to stay behind disobeying orders because you set that example."
"We needed to win this fight. Now we've lost ground because we couldn't protect it." Some of the men shared their opinion too but were quelled by Barry's stern look.
"It's true we lost ground but my priority is the security of the all the men and women under my command and if retreating is the best option, then that's what I will choose. I hope that you reflect on this as you look around and see how many of the people who followed my orders are injured versus those that stayed with you. I will leave Commander Barry to make a decision on disciplinary action against those who disobeyed the orders." Barry saluted as a grumble was heard.
Lisa turned to leave, followed by the rest of the Macross crew, when she suddenly turned and addressed all of those in the hangar. "If I hear of any fights breaking out between any member of Mechakon, Macross or anybody else, you will be removed from the mission and returned to where you came from suspended without pay. Is that understood?"
"Yes Captain!" Came the rapid reply from the Macross crew.
"Yes, Captain!" Was repeated after a hesitant pause by the rest of the force.
"You are all dismissed." Everybody lowered their salute and dispersed.
Only the group of friends from Macross stayed faithfully behind Lisa as she made her way to the space that had been designated as her office. None of them spoke, all of them knew Lisa was too raw right now to press her and they understood her silence too. It was better to speak in the privacy of her office than out here were there could be prying eyes.
By the time they entered the office, dusk had fallen and the shadows of the night were starting to creep in. The internal system, very much like the EVA system in the SDF-1, had mimicked the conditions of the outside and had created a starry night for Lisa to view out of her window. She stood there, unseeing and silent while her reflection spoke of her distress. None of them seemed to want to break the silence but Rick felt that she needed the reassurance.
"Captain…" Rick started, but at her flinch, he said, "Lisa," he continued soothingly. "You did the right thing. It was the right order to give, we were overpowered out there and I am sure that a few more minutes of that and many of them would have asked for the order to retreat."
"I know." She said softly, making them all stand straight in their surprise. They thought Lisa had been recriminating herself for her decision. "I am just concerned with the fact that they ignored not only my orders but that of the superior officer they know and left a comrade in danger."
"We should have stayed…" Rick said, feeling guilty for Sayaka but Roy interrupted him.
"No Rick, we did the right thing, not only for our men and women but for Lisa's authority. If we had not followed her command, we would have been in the same situation as their forces. Aside from that it is a learning experience. How many times have you seen a pilot disobey orders during their first skirmish? And what happens to those pilots? They either learn to take orders after they realize the danger they are in or they don't make it back. The Mechakon will learn as well. I am sure some of them understood and will think twice the next time."
"I am just worried about the ones that did not." Lisa said, her tone melancholy as she turned to face them. "Thank you all for your support."
"Don't mention it." Rick responded.
Roy saw this as an opportunity to tease his little brother and raise Lisa's spirit. "Don't worry you just go to rest now. We'll send Ricky boy with some coffee for you tomorrow." Roy said with a smirk while Rick turned red from embarrassment.
"Hey!" Rick said as Roy hurried out of the room.
"You usually bring her coffee anyways." Their bickering could be heard as they left.
Claudia gave her a hug before she followed her fiancé. Max and Miriya saluted her with a warm smile and left.
Finally, with a lighter heart amidst her worry, Lisa turned off the lights of her office and she left for the night.
While Lisa had been in her office with her friends, Kogo's ship left Santore. He had been given clearance to go if it pleased him.
"I'm not coming back. There's no way I will work with that woman." He was telling the older man in the comm. screen.
"Kogo you knucklehead! You have to stay there, those were your orders." Dr. Dodge yelled him, his red face a stark contrast to his white beard. They had been hashing over the same conversation for over ten minutes already and the man was running out of patience.
"Dr. Dodge, should you be getting excited like that in your old age? It could turn into an apoplexy and kill you." He teased the older man in his customary fashion, knowing it would distract him long enough to have him reach his destination.
"Why you insufferable..." Apparently the man figured out the plan and he told the younger man, "Don't try to distract me like you always do. You know Dr. Sandra asked you to stay here and complete you mission! You can't go back yet."
"My mission, and the one I signed up for, was to protect the Princess and that's what I'm going to do."
"Why you…wait until Dr. Sandra finds out…"
"Jan Kogo." The calm, authoritative voice that he knew well came thru. "You need to stay there and complete this mission."
"But I want to go back to the voyage to the center of the galaxy. You know how important it is!" His tone had changed to a mix between petulance and begging. There was no insolence from him when addressing her.
"This one is just as important. Turn back and stay until you have fulfilled your role in this mission." Her voice was as hard as steel.
Kogo gave her a sullen look but he knew there was no fighting with her whenever she gave him an order. With a sigh he turned back to Santore.
Daigo was standing on a ledge on the face of Santore. There were many of these rocky ledges leading out into the night air and Daigo had explored many of them in his restlessness. Right now though he gave into another way of calming his restlessness, bythrowing stones into the impossible darkness beyond Santore.
His mind was not involved in his actions, instead they kept replaying the scenes from today's battle. He could even still hear the panicked screams of those that had stayed with him to fight.
'Damn them! He never asked them to follow him.' He thought angrily. Unbidden, the words from the bossy… the Captain replayed on his head.
"We need to present a unified front. The troops will follow us and we need to set an example…" She had said this the night before the bigger meeting, the night when she had been told how much everybody hated her position.
You had to give it to her, the lady sure had guts. Weeks after she had been humiliated she came back and faced everybody. Even with the overwhelming evidence that the men would not follow her orders she still faced them and established her position as a leader once again.
'Why did the men follow me and not Barry? I am not a commander!' Daigo wondered. The simple answer was that the voluntary brigade liked to rebel anyways and he had given them the perfect excuse. That he felt somewhat responsible was different. He understood that as the pilot of the Gordian, their savior in so many battles, he did get some respect and he did have some responsibility to protect those who looked up to him.
He hurled the last stone with more force than all the others and, chest heaving with his exertions, just stood there, letting the breeze calm his chaotic thoughts.
TBC…
