AN: Hey look, a new chapter. Anyway, here ya go. I had to redo a few things on it, but I actually found this chapter to be fairly entertaining. And for those of yall that have reviewed recently, for some reason, the only way I can see them is to read the email alert for them. FFnet says I have 17 reviews but I can only see 10 of them. Not sure and I've sent a message to an admin. Hopefully they can explain it. Soooo...this chapter gets a little testy near the end. You may approve or you may not approve of how I've gone about it, but it's a moot point. Originally, I had Rick getting captured when the others escape, but I actually didn't like how that went. So instead, I've found another way to continue that plot aspect I had originally. And I have hopefully gotten ride of any possible spelling errors and grammer no-nos but meh, it may happen. And that reminds me, if you get a chance, please read Finding Forever by queenybee if you haven't already. A great premise for a story in my opinion!

Recommendations for a good read this chapter:

Mitchell Hunter and the Vietnam War by Dan Rush (Great story showing some back ground for Mitchell "Pop" Hunter and Dan "Tweety" Fokker, both are cannon names per the newest retcon comic release, part of the reason I'm figuring out callsigns for our favorite pilots as well, all pilots have one.)

Second Chances by andrewjameswilliams (Damn fine story time travel fic and the one that gave the push for me to actually put this story up after sitting on it for 15 years. If you have been a fan of RoboTech for longer than two days, read it.)

One and Only by StormAshke (Follow on AU set sometome after To The Stars following everyone's favorite bonehead. Very well written and a great oneshot. I highly recommend it.)

Chapter 7

The fight in the hanger bay was heating up. After the giant with the plate partially wrapped around his head attempted to introduce Max to a piece of pipe, the blue haired ace found himself under fire from half a dozen armed aliens who did not seem too pleased with Vermilion's interruption of Commander Hayes' capture. Using the massive strength of his Veritech, Max managed to level a punch into the chest of one of the security giants and sent him stumbling back into his comrades, the impact knocking two of them down, followed by the flailing one Max had punched. They couldn't keep this up, his heat warnings were appearing along with several stress related ones for his left arm and right leg . Which meant Max would need to break the engagement and hope the others survived. He took one final look towards Rick who was being man handled by the Giant that Max had tried so hard to space, guilt welling up inside of him as he shifted his veritech into Guardian mode. Igniting his thrusters, Max shot straight up and went right through one of the many hatches that admitted personnel onto the second floor catwalk. He shoved his throttle forward, shooting off down the thankfully empty corridor, eyes sharp as he looked for a small arms locker or somewhere he could hide out just long enough for his systems to cool. He held his course down the hall for several minutes, his mind screaming at him for abandoning his friends. They could end up killed or some kind of science experiment where the aliens would dissect them. His more logical side, the one he tended to listen to more often, argued that even had he stayed, it would have been of little consequence and at least this way, he could break them out, and do some damage in the process that would hopefully increase the chances of them making it out of this alive.

The blue highlighted Veritech pulled to a sharp stop in front of a pair of what Max guessed were lift doors.

"Well, I don't want to go up that yet, not until I have some kind of weapon to use." He shifted his Veritech back to battloid and back tracked a few seconds down the hall and studied the strange symbols on the door before him.

"Really wish they'd use a language I could read." He mused. "This could either be a security room or, with how our luck has been, a bathroom. Huh?" Max's thoughts were interrupted from a low mechanical hum the Veritech's audio sensors picked up.

A quick glance at the two dull silver doors for the lift confirmed they were the source as what appeared to be a level indicator was blinking rapidly. The Battliod palmed the release for the door as Max kept his gaze on the lift, praying he'd make it in what ever the room was before someone spotted him. He heard the room doors open, and slipped inside, letting out a sigh of relief as they sealed behind him almost silently. His audio sensors picked up the sounds of heavy foot falls as they approached and for one moment, Max felt his heart stop in fear that they might be coming into the same room he'd ducked into. He let out the breath he had been holding as the footsteps passed by with out any pause.

"Oh boy. That was close." He muttered, scanning the monitor with his blue eyes. "Kinda dark in here. Wonder if there is a light switch?"

A moment of fumbling around, the Veritech hand managed to find the light controls and turned on the low white light that was above his head.

"Well that's better. Let's see what-Oh you got to be kidding me." He stated deadpan as he finally was able to see the room he was in. "I was only joking about hiding in a bathroom."

Max had indeed managed to lock himself into a bathroom, and a soft curse left his lips as he had a higher risk of being found than say if he'd been hiding in a storage locker. You only went to a storage locker if you need to restock a shelf, but a bathroom was used a hell of a lot more in a day. He gave a frustrated sigh before his eyes caught sight of something.

"They could have at least flushed."

The Veritech head began looking around the room for a vent shaft that he could possible fit through. A nasty thought crossed his mind that if he got stuck, he'd be stuck permanently. No way for him to get out of the vent and with a realization that it wouldn't be the quietest method either. He had two choice that he could see. One was to just remain here and probably get caught well before he could rescue his friends. Two, was to leave this room quickly and find some munitions he could use. He was reasonable certain he'd be able to use the aliens own weapons against them, but then again, he'd need to figure out how to use them. That plan could very well back fire on him but it was a better option than hiding out in a toilet. Max turned to the doors and was just raising his battloids hand when they opened, and brought up one of the aliens short. Both beings blinked in surprise, unmoving for that spit second before a mechanical boot shot out, catching the alien in his stomach. The blow knocked the wind from him, causing him to double over which was just what Max hoped he'd do. The Human grabbed the alien and spun, slamming it's head into the wall, denting the metal bulkhead in the process of knocking the alien out cold. Slapping the release, Max resealed the room and turned his thoughtful gaze back onto the alien, an idea forming in his head.

"You know. I think those are just the right size."

Twenty minutes later, Max shifted the cover from the alien to hide the battloid's head and looked back down at the body. He looked to the tied up and angry alien that Max was sure was cursing him. The muffled voice wasn't too happy but Max didn't care and delivered a powerful blow that rendered alien unconscious again. Hopefully long enough for Max to get his comrades and get them off the ship. He just needed to figure out where he needed to go. A familiar sensation of vertigo hit Max, and he quickly checked his sensors, a frustrated sigh left his lips as the sensors detected a massive radiation build up around him. It could only be one thing from those particular radiation shifts.

"A fold? Oh great. Can this get any more difficult?" He muttered.

"Reactor heat reaching critical levels." The cool voice of the computer spoke. "Shutting down systems. Beginning heat waste dump. Estimated time until restart: Four Hours."

Max muttered a curse. Of course Murphy would rear his ugly head in response. He had maybe fifteen seconds before his Veritech became as useful as a paper weight in a laundry room.

"Oh no. Better lock the door before the system shuts down." Max hurriedly hit what he hoped was a lock key, and was relieved to see the blue light on the door turn red. "Well guess I'm not going anywhere."

The Veritech's heat system was designed to cut in and shut the mecha down in the event of a preventable meltdown in the core. Normally, he could override it, but they had overridden the system earlier and now, it was unavoidable. He watched as one by one, all of his systems shut down and he settled himself in for the wait. Thankfully for him, he had enough oxygen in the tanks.

"I hope the others are having better luck than me."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Restart complete. Warning, heat sinks operating at forty-five percent efficiency. Recommend immediate maintenance. Primary coolant depleted. Secondary systems engaged. Warning. Prolonged use is not advised."

Max tapped the controls and winced at how sluggish his veritech was behaving. He began pulling up diagnostics and watched the data compile on his display. Besides the heat system being almost shot, he also had several power conduits in his veritech that looked like they had melted along with some of the servos and hydraulics which meant he was going to have to move slow and avoid any more stress on the system. And mode change was definitely going to be a last resort as he had a feeling it would critically overload the system not long after a switch like that. At least it was holding together at the moment and as long as he was careful, he'd pull off this jail break, once he figured out just where his comrades were. Checking once more on his systems, Max hit the door release and stepped quickly into the hall, and the doors sealed behind him.

"Here goes nothing."

The disguised Veritech walked down the hall at a constant pace, and Max was on edge, the fear that he'd be spotted instantly gripping his guts with it's icy grasp. His nerves shot up as one of the aliens, he guessed an enlisted member, was coming from the opposite direction. Max glanced at his heat display and winced. It was already in caution just from walking! He'd probably blow himself up if he tried to fight. The alien drew level with him and Max tensed. The giant gave him a respectful nod and kept walking right past him, heading for the lift. Max felt his tension and nerves leave him just as quickly as the alien passed by him and gave a relieved laugh.

"Well that wasn't too bad." He frowned as he realized he'd been talking out loud to himself. "Maybe I should hit the arcade when we get back. I've been so stressed, I'm talking to myself."

The battloid left the hallway and made a right at the nearest intersection. Max was wandering the halls, awe on his face and even felt humbled by what he saw. This ship was massive with corridors winding this way and that. He passed several mess halls and barracks, understanding that the sheer number of crew members on this ship made any kind of hostile action on his part nothing more than suicide. He was beginning to give up any kind of hope that his friends were alive, surely it would be the talk of the crew that three enemy combatants had been captured. His hope was reignited upon passing by what appeared to be an infirmary and spotted three very familiar people in some kind of container, discussing something amongst themselves. He was just about to make his move when he spotted three heavily armed security teams heading for the bay as well. He cursed and made his way from the infirmary. He should have guessed that they'd have them under guard. After all, he was still on the loose and he had no idea when they'd find the alien he'd borrowed the uniform from. He gave a frustrated sigh as he left the three. He'd need to free them, but how? At least they were still alive and in good health which meant that where ever the aliens were taking them, they would probably interrogate them there. At least that was his hope. If that was the plan, he'd have time to plan out a way to get them free. All he needed to do now was keep his eye on them and it would hopefully lead him to a solution.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Max moved quickly down the hall that held all of the cells for the particular section of the aliens brig, What ever had happened in what Max had labeled the Interrogation room, had happened quickly. Barely thirty minutes after they had been taken in there, the three captured humans had been quickly taken back out and towards the brig. He figured that Commander Hayes had told them off pretty well and had frustrated the aliens to the point that maybe they had been close to violence. Or maybe what ever interrogation techniques the aliens had didn't work on humans and perhaps they needed time to find a better method. Not caring about what gave him this lucky break, Max was determined to use it and get his friends out of there. He was thankful the questioning had been on the same ship. A quick check revealed only one guard, and he was passed out.

"Huh. Guess snoring is a universal problem." Max mused, passing the fast asleep guard. "Your boss isn't going to be too happy with you my friend."

It took him mere moments to locate the correct cell, having heard the voices of Rick and the others. He guessed they had went quiet at his approach, thinking he was one of the aliens coming to check on them. Max hit the release and waited for the door to open. When it did, the sight before him caused his jaw to drop. Unless his mind was playing tricks on him, there was Rick kissing a certain Commander Hayes. It stunned him as his mind was trying to make sense of what he was seeing before Rick's command for Ben to run reached his ears.

"Wait, it's me. Max!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Rick held onto Lisa as Max accelerated down the hall in guardian mode. They'd barely made it out of the brig before one of the alien guards had called out to them. That's when the weapons fire started in. Who ever Max had stolen this uniform from must have been found and told his superiors what had happened, though if Rick had been his superior, the sight of one of his men naked and probably tied up somewhere would have explained all that would need to be told. He'd urged Max to change modes to guardian to use the better speed available to get clear as fast as they could. He took a quick glance over to Ben to see the man sported an intense look of focus, trying to help spot any potential threats ahead. Rick was proud of how his men had been handling this situation and would be pressing for promotions for them. Ben, for his steady confidence that they'd escape and his rather brilliant plan to at least get out of the cell, and Max for pulling off one hell of a rescue.

"Hang on Guys! We're going through!" Max yelled over the external speaker.

"Max, that's a solid wall!" Ben cried out, ducking into the pocket, an inkling of what Max had in mind popped in his head.

"It'll work!" Max stated. "Please let this work!"

The hybrid fighter slammed right into the wall which thankfully wasn't very sturdy, giving easily under the weight and force of the impact. Rick had a split second look at the aliens in the room, spotting the dumbfounded and shocked expressions. They probably couldn't understand how they'd pulled it off, but Rick didn't care as Max kept his throttle full thrust. Max broke into another corridor and poured on the speed as a security team entered the hall behind them and opened fire, most of it missing, but warning lights began to kick on from the rounds that did hit, and his system was screaming at him that his reactor was quickly overheating and the emergency systems that were designed to prevent a meltdown, were failing in their goal. He managed to get the lift open and inside before all his controls became unresponsive.

"I have no control! Skipper, hit the controls!" He called, popping the canopy as smoke began to pour from the joints of the rapidly deteriorating veritech.

Rick climbed out of the pocket, adrenaline pumping through his veins and rushed to the control the Veritech had almost reached before it had stopped responding. The lift doors shut and the humans quickly managed to get to the floor, Rick helping a still sore Lisa down.

"This thing is going to blow Skipper." Max reported, preparing his laser rifle. "All we have left now is just this." He hefted the rifle in both hands.

"Alright, we get out when it stops and get clear before the reactor blows." Rick ordered.

"We should head to one of their launch bays. See if we can steal one of their fighters." Lisa recommended, leaning against Rick for support. The soreness from earlier was mostly gone, but she couldn't help the wince from the pain their sudden movements had caused.

"Sounds like a plan to me." Ben quipped, darting a glance to the now heavily smoking veritech. "I hope this lift stops soon because I don't think that reactor is going to hold for much longer."

As if to answer their request, the door slid open and revealed the startled form of a Zentradi security officer. The four humans didn't waste any time and sprinted from the lift and darted around the corner just in time before the reactor finally breached, the explosion being funneled out into the corridor killing the lone Zentradi. Unfortunately, the rest of his team came rushing into the corridor, weapons ready, forcing the humans to split up and head in two different directions. Rick pulled Lisa with him and the two rushed into the nearest room to them while Ben and Max darted the opposite direction, drawing off the security team. Rick was surprised one didn't come after them but figured that maybe they hadn't been spotted. He sent out a silent prayer for Max and Ben to be safe, knowing that dodging the aliens wouldn't be as easy when the Zentradi as they called themselves could cover almost a foot ball field in a few steps.

"Rick." Lisa's shocked voice brought him out of his thoughts.

He turned to see what was wrong and saw Lisa's gaze locked onto something against the wall, her awe present. He followed her focus and felt his own eyes go wide. Along the wall before him, were dozens of tanks. He could see vague humanoid shapes floating the some sort of liquid.

"What...what is this place?"

"I...I think they may be some kind of medical procedure." She spotted three human sized ones with bodies in them as well. "Wait...those three in the smaller ones look just like the ones behind them."

The two made their way to the tanks, Lisa making sure the camera got a clear shot of everything in the room. Rick frowned as he spotted some cables running between the smaller ones and the larger tanks.

"What do you think those cables are for?" he asked, peaking into the tank and seeing a man with unruly dark hair and pale skin. He couldn't tell much about the man as the bluish colored liquid made it hard to see anything. Lisa tapped her chin thoughtfully before she spoke, knowing that her thought on what was going on in this room was becoming more and more feasible.

"I think this is some kind of cloning chamber."

Rick pulled his gaze from the tanks, hand still on it, and gave Lisa a surprised look.

"Clones? Is that even possible?"

"Think about it." She pointed to the tanks. "With how they seem not to care about their lives in battle, and how many of them look the same, it's not too far fetched of a theory. In fact, it does fit the evidence so far."

Rick gave a confused look as his mind went over the possibility. Each fight the aliens seemed to just throw themselves into the meat grinder, not pulling out of combat until they were pretty much wiped out or they completed some unknown objective. They never turned and ran, even if their pod was heavily damage. And their capital ships seemed to not care about damage. They just kept pushing forward until destroyed. And now that he thought about it, each time they engaged the SDF and her airwing, the pods were able to anticipate each action quicker, keeping most of the dead with the human defenders, bleeding the SDF of valuable resources. It also explained how they were able to quickly replenish their losses each battle. His eyes narrowed and he looked to the pods in disgust.

"Those bastards! That's completely immoral!" Rick spat.

"Rick, we can't really hold them to our human expectations and beliefs. For all we know, this is how they reproduce." She cocked her head to the side in thought before correcting her statement. "Well, how they keep their species from going extinct."

"But still...it explains why they don't know anything about love or why big bald boy seemed ready to vomit when we kissed." Rick commented, crossing his arms in thought, missing the blush Lisa was now sporting at the mention of them kissing. "It makes sense that if they've been cloned for awhile, they've maybe forgotten what it's like to live in a society."

"Yes. You could be right. What-Rick!" She hissed out as she pulled her in between the tanks with out warning.

Rick had heard the foot falls before the giants had entered the room and was already pulling Lisa into cover, hiding from their pursuers. He placed his finger over his mouth, signaling her to be quiet, which she complied. She couldn't help the blush on her face as she realized how closely Rick had pulled her and it was making her stomach do flips from the feelings. Rick kept his focus on the aliens as he held Lisa tight to him, merely attempting to keep both hidden as the aliens looked around. He heard one speaking their native language, his deep baritone voice unnerving Rick at how it seemed to also have a bit of an echo to it. The two small humans watched in silence as the aliens began looking at the same level as them. Rick looked back at Lisa who still had her eyes tracking the two giants. He caught her attention and motioned with his head for her to follow. The two began moving as quietly as they could behind the cloning tanks, pausing when one of the searchers came close. It took ten agonizing minutes for them to reach the hall and they picked up their pace coming across a single bridge spanning a darkened drop. Rick chanced a look and pulled back, having not seen the bottom. He was just about to motion Lisa to follow when he heard a deep gravely like bark and saw one of the aliens leveling it's rifle at them.

"Lisa!" He pulled her to him as the alien fired, barely missing the woman who gave a scream at how close the shot had been.

The two began to run as more weapons fire slammed into the bridge, blasting chunks of metal away until the bridge gave a sharp lurch. Rick looked to Lisa, fear in his eyes moments before the walkway gave from the blasts melting the supports. The last thing Rick would remember was the terrified shriek from Lisa followed a a sharp pain to his head and consciousness left him.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Lisa took several deep breaths, gulping in great lungfuls as she laid back on the edge of what she figured was a water reservoir. She sat up, still panting from their unintentional swim and brushed her soaking wet hair out of her face so she could check on Rick. She'd watched as his head had impacted one of the pipes on the way down and she'd been terrified it had killed him. She was relieved when as she saw his chest rising. She moved closer to him and set his head in her lap as she waited, running her hand through his soaked hair, smiling as she did so. She looked around and noted the ghastly state this area of the ship was, wondering if the aliens even maintained it. Come to think of it, she had yet to see anyone that even remotely resembled a maintenance crew. Her mind began analyzing everything that had been exposed to and wondered how they kept their ships flying if something that was a necessary as a water reservoir was just left to fall into disrepair like this one was.

"Am I in heavan?" A soft voice asked.

Lisa looked back down at Rick's face, and smiled at the loving look on his face. She shook her head, sending water droplets across the floor to her sides.

"No, and please don't use a cliché line on me about Angels Hunter." She laughed, moving to stop her ministrations.

"Don't. That feels good." He muttered, closing his eyes briefly. "My Mom used to do that when I was younger."

"You know," She drawled, enjoying this momentary break in the seriousness of their current predicament. "It's not smart to tell the woman you are dating she reminds you of your mother. A girl could take that the wrong way."

Rick chuckled before a whistful look crossed his face.

"Well if it helps, my Mom would have loved to have met you."

She saw the brief flash of pain and understood. He'd lost his mother too. She remembered reading it in his file when he'd signed up and felt bad for the unintentional hurt her statement may have caused. But her thoughts were interrupted as Rick sat up and began to look around in wonder.

"Wow, talk about running a ship into the dirt." He commented. "Place looks like it's seen better days."

Lisa agreed and told him about her idea that maybe the aliens only knew enough about their systems to use them but not keep them properly maintained. And perhaps that knowledge had been lost. Her boyfriend frowned, but agreed that it fit into the current information that had about the aliens. Lisa leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder as he instinctively wrapped his arm around her shoulder, not even minding as she snuggled into his side.

"Can you imagine how sad it is? A whole population devoted to war." He asked, looking down at the still mostly soaked woman, feeling her shivers from the cold setting in.

"In that respect their really not that different than me." She commented, a thoughtful look on her face. "Considering my family has been in the military for the past century. Until you, all I've ever known was life in the defense force. I used to always be so focused on just the mission. Now, well I have you." She smiled shyly at him.

Rick kissed her forehead and returned her smile.

"Well that explains how you ended up top of your class. All of us pilots figure any woman who pulls that off must be Wonder Woman or something."

Lisa gave a soft laugh.

"Yes, Claudia used to tease me about how easily I'm able to order men around." She smirked as she looked back out over the pool of liquid. "Like you men are scared of me or something." She gave him a mock accusing glare.

"Me? Never!" Rick teased. Lisa cocked an eyebrow at him, her amused smirk shining up at him. "Okay, maybe at first." He admitted sheepishly.

Lisa kissed his cheek, rewarding his honesty.

"Well, as much as I enjoy holding you by a pool, I had always intended it to be somewhere sunny, like Florida or maybe even Hawaii. I think it's time we started looking for an exit." He commented.

The two rose to their feet and began heading off along what Rick termed the bank. An hour into their search, they felt a breeze and turned and followed it, hoping it would lead them to some exit. Rick covered his eyes from a harsh glare and gave a happy laugh as he pointed it out to Lisa and the two hurried toward what was now identified as a hatch and stepped through.

"Ah, fresh recycled air!" Rick joked, spreading his arms as if it was the best feeling ever, making Lisa shake her head in amusement.

"Hey! We found you guys!" The voice of Ben Dixon sounded out,

"Ben! Max!" Rick called happily as he say his men running towards them.

"Rick look!" Lisa cried out.

The three pilots turned and finally saw beyond the mist that had cleared. All four watched in fear as what looked to be hundreds, perhaps hundreds of thousands of vessels were docked inside the massive star base they had scene when they first arrived. Lisa felt her knees grow weak as despair filled her at the sight. Her mind was overwhelmed as her keen eyes widened with shock. There had to be at least a million ships here! How could they even fight that number? Even at their peak, the UN Navy barely had twenty ships. And a couple thousand fighters available to them.

"We need to get back to Earth and warn them."

Lisa looked to Rick's determined face, his blue eyes focused on the fleet before them.

"Uh, not to put a damper on the idea Skipper, but any ideas how we can get back?" Max asked, uneasy.

"Look, that ship there looks like it's taking on supplies. Maybe we can hop freight all the way back to Earth?" Ben suggested, pointing towards a smaller ship docked to the one they were currently on.

"But, we don't even know if it's going to Earth Ben." Max pointed out.

"So? It's a better idea than just standing around here." He countered.

"Alright. We're going with Ben's idea." Rick gave Lisa's hand a reassuring squeeze. "Sound like a plan Lisa?"

She couldn't help but feel her confidence return from his cocky grin. Long ago, she'd have been irritated by that cocky grin, now, she felt she couldn't live without it. She nodded and turned to the two men before her.

"Well what are you boys waiting for? We have a ship to catch!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

It took them almost twenty minutes to reach the transfer port. The four humans ducked under one of the many pallets of goods being loaded, only leaving their hiding spot once they were clear of the Zentradi guards. With good fortune, they found themselves in one of the cargo bays that seemed to double as a hanger that had several of the Zentradi battle pods in their alcoves. Rick checked the room, and was satisfied that no guards were present and motioned for the others to come out from their hiding spot.

"Well, looks like we have our way off this bucket." Max commented, his normal optimistic personality back after their escape.

"Yeah. And if our luck holds, this ship is headed right back to our home system." Ben sighed and dropped to the ground, the adrenaline wearing off. Max sat beside his friend and nodded his agreement.

"So all we do know is wait." Lisa leaned against Rick, her own exhaustion setting in, feeling safe and secure as Rick held her in his arms. The aforementioned pilot rested his chin on her shoulder as he looked over his men, a look of concentration on his face that Lisa didn't see.

"We'll need to be ready in case we do end up back home. That way we can jump ship as soon as possible." Rick commented.

"Well that sounds like a plan but if they fold back to Earth, it will take several hours so we have time to relax, at least a little." Lisa muttered, her eyes half lidded as she tried to stay awake. Unlike the pilots, she really wasn't trained to handle situations like this. They were able to deal with the high stress as they had to endure it on a daily basis while she didn't. Oh, sure it was stressful working the bridge, especially during combat, but it was a completely different story to be the front line warrior. Rick smirked as Lisa began to nod off and quickly motioned for the others to find something to make her more comfortable as Rick quickly scooped the young lady who had stolen his heart in his arms. Lisa opened her eyes, tiredness present on her face before she snuggled into his chest. Max and Ben came through, finding what appeared to be some kind of cloth package that was pretty comfortable from what Rick felt as he laid a now asleep Lisa on it, and used the space blanket from the first aid kit Max had on him from his fighter. Rick watched as Lisa slept, brushing a loose strand of hair from her face and smiling at the sleeping form of the woman he once had hated. Now, he hated to think what his life would be with out her.

He rose to his feet and motioned for Max and Ben to follow him to the pods. The trio came to a stop by the middle one and the two NCOs waited to hear what Rick was planning.

"Before we get started on figuring this hunk of junk out." He motioned to the pod behind him. "I have an order for you two that you will follow to a 'T' or I will throw you out of an air lock. You following?" His voice deathly calm, his eyes showing he'd broker no argument with them.

Both men looked to each other, worry creeping into them at what this order would be. Max nodded his understanding in Rick's seriousness as did Ben. Rick looked both his men in the eye, and felt pride swell up in him and the sense that what he was about to say was the correct course of action.

"Before I give my standing orders to you, I want to say how proud I am of you both. You have come along way from nuggets and are two of the best pilots I have ever seen. And I am proud to be your flight lead." He told them honestly.

Ben felt his heart swell and Max just nodded, appreciating the praise.

"It's our honor Skipper. You're like family to us you know." Max told him, no trace of embarrassment.

"Yeah. You're like an older brother to us sir." Ben agreed.

Rick nodded with a smile. He felt the same way and it was a pleasant surprise at how quickly the two had vouched their approval of Lisa right after finding out they were together. But it made it even harder for him to expect them to follow his order he was about to give as his face became serious again.

"I know. And I know my next orders to you will be hard for you to follow, but listen and you'll understand." He waited until they nodded. "If there comes a point when a distraction is necessary for us to escape, you two are to grab Commander Hayes, get your asses into this pod, and get out of here." He held up a hand to forestall their outrage at the order as they understood he was telling them he'd be the distraction. "Listen. Commander Hayes has intel that we need to win this war. She is our VIP that we need to protect. You both are great pilots, same as me, but we are expendable. I will not ask either of you to remain behind if it needs to be done. That's why I will."

"But Skipper, the SDF needs you. Commander Hayes needs you." Max pointed out, not willing to allow Rick to be a sacrifice.

"Max, I appreciate what you are saying, but it's my duty to make sure both of you and Commander Hayes gets to safety. We are still on mission, and last I checked, I have final say in any actions taken that result in direct action against hostile forces. The minute this became an escape, my authority overrides Commander Hayes." He told them calmly, and they both knew he was right. With the data the Commander had collected on her recon and with the recent turn of events, that made her return to the SDF priority over anything else. And Rick did have a responsibility to safe guard as many of their lives as possible on top of getting the Commander to safety. Both men could agree to it from a military prospective as the mission did come first. But as his friends, they were absolutely against his orders. Ben even went as far as threatening to knock Rick out and tying him up to prevent it, but Rick leveled a cold glare at them both. "In case you both have forgotten, this isn't a democracy. As your superior officer, I am ordering you that if it comes to it, you will make your escape whether I'm on the pod or not when I give the command to launch. Do you understand?"

Max opened his mouth to protest, but Ben placed a hand on his shoulder, silencing him.

"If that's your order sir, then we will follow it. But let's limit the potential for the possibility it's needed."

Rick nodded his thanks to Ben, appreciating that he understood what Rick was getting at. He didn't like telling them to abandon them, but it truly was his responsibility to get them home. If he was with them, great. If he wasn't, well he'd just hope the Zentradi still only wanted to talk to him. He cleared that thought from his head and the trio began the job of figuring out just how to dive this ungainly bucket so as to not kill themselves in their escape attempt.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Rick watched Lisa as she slept, trying to memorize ever curve of her face, every strand of hair, every detail of her. He truly could say he loved this woman. He'd like to say it was at first sight, but he'd be lying. They'd argued in the beginning, and mostly Rick could say they blame laid at his feet. He was obnoxious at the time and hadn't grown up at that point. Now, he knew he had, especially with the horrors he had witnessed. He'd gone from borderline pacifist to hardened warrior, hell bent on keeping all he loved safe from a hostile alien species that seemed determined to drag them kicking and screaming to join the dinosaurs in extinction. Rick was fiercely determined to not just stall the enemy, but beat them. His thoughts turned back to the woman before him and he couldn't help but pray that the orders he had given Ben and Max wouldn't need to be carried out. And if he was honest, a big part of it was because he refused to allow a chance that Lisa would not get to safety to exist. What greater gift for a man to give his loved ones than to sacrifice himself for them?

"A picture lasts longer Rick." Lisa muttered sleepily, her eyes opening and looking up to him.

"I prefer the real thing." He told her softly. "And I really hope I get the chance to always be able to be there when you wake up."

Lisa gave him a sweet smile, thinking how adorable it was for him to say that, even knowing just how horrible a person she could be

"Maybe flyboy. How long was I out?" She asked, stretching and letting out the cutest little yawn Rick had ever heard.

"About five hours. We were able to get an idea of how the pods work, even though they weren't kind enough to leave a manual." He informed her as she sat up.

"Do men even follow the manual that's included?" She teased, making him smile warmly at her. She was about to ask where the other two were when he shushed her.

"Careful dear, you'll wake the kids." He whispered with mirth and a head nod to the opposite side of her. For a moment, Lisa allowed her mind to paint a picture of the two of them together, Rick having his arm around her shoulders as she peered into t bed room showing two small children one with her hair color but Rick's unruly style and the other with a more subdued hair cut matching Rick's hair color. She gave a small smile at the mental image as she turned to look in the direction he motioned and gave a rather unlady like snort. Ben was resting his head against Max's shoulder, muttering as he slept while Max's head was leaning straight back, a small trail of drool coming from his mouth. She would have guessed it would have been the other way around but then again, this whole trip was full of surprises.

"Did they say why they were so accepting of our relationship?" She quired, turning to face Rick.

"According to the conceus between the two, you are bar far the perfect woman for me. You've snapped me right back on track when need be and praised me when it was warranted. And you have been extremely patient with me this whole time. As far as they are concerned, they want to be involved in an possible wedding plans." Rick chuckled. "Though that's a bit soon to think about don't you?"

She gave him a thoughtful look.

"Maybe. To be honest, I never gave marriage a thought after...Karl." She looked deeply into his eyes. "But I find myself recently thinking about my future outside of the RDF. And...well...let's just say I'm open to the idea. But we have a way to go before that buster."

Rick smirked and nodded his head in agreement. It was no use to get ahead of themselves by jumping feet first. The piratical side of Rick agreed that they needed to take their time, get to know each other more and take it one step at a time. The human part of him, the one that countered the practical side, wasn't so sure as it screamed at him that she was the one, the one who he'd be with for all time. But Rick still felt that no matter what that part screamed at him, he had no right to rush Lisa. In his eyes, she set the pace. After all, they had yet to spend a night together, and this mission didn't count. The two fell into an easy conversation as the time ticked by, eventually being joined by Max and Ben. At one point, a passing patrol had forced them to end their talk as the Zentradi toured the bay, looking for anything out of the ordinary and the four humans silently watched from the crates they were hidden behind. After what felt like an eternity but was closer to fifteen minutes, the guard left and the four let out a collective breath. The familiar feeling of vertigo hit them, alerting them to the coming defold.

"We need to hurry." Rick spoke and the four rushed to the pod. "Lisa, you get in. Ben, you and Max follow. Let me know once you have it online. I'll keep watch."

The two hesitated, but nodded, a feeling of dread filling them that they fought hard to fight down and get the pod online. If they could do it fast enough, then Rick would be on board and wouldn't need to act as a distraction. The two were working quickly, trying to bring the systems online when the feeling of defold sent a shudder through the ship. Rick kept his eyes peeled as Ben brought the pod online.

"Ready skipper! Let's get the hell out of here!" Max primed the guns, ready to blow the hole.

Rick quickly moved to climb aboard as the Zentradi guard entered again, having heard the start up of the pod. A sudden shout caught Rick's attention and he looked with horror as the Zentradi aimed his rifle and pulled the trigger. Blast slammed into the metal right next to Rick as he was climbing in and the blast sent shrapnel into his right side. Rick cried out in pain from the partial motlen metal pieces and began to fall back, but the timely actions of a laser rifle weilding Ben saved him from being left behind. The steak fueled pilot snarled in anger, one hand pulling his lead into the pod, the other mashing the trigger and sending a stream of blue blots of energy into the face the alien. One of Ben's shots connected with the eye of the giant, and the being roared in pain, dropping his own weapon as Max triggered the guns on the pod and throttled the engines forward, the battle pod sailing out into space. Inside the pod, Rick was gasping for air, the pan was almost to much to bare. Lisa was quickly working to stop his bleeding, blood covering the front of her flight uniform.

"Lisa..."

"Save your strength Rick. Please." She begged as Ben set to work with the first aid kit.

"Can't...breath..." He rasped out.

"Punctured lung." Ben noted grimly as he grabbed out a can of medical foam. "This will hold for a while but we need to get him to a doctor."

Rick cried out as been stuck the nozzle into the wound closest to his lung and and sprayed. To Rick, it felt like someone had poured molten plastic into his chest, but thankfully, the numbing agent in the foam quickly removed the pain. Ben checked the kit and found the pain shot, something that acted like morphine, but not addictive, and administered it to Rick. He labored breathing no longer came in ragged gasps, but he was still losing blood and his face was dangerously pale. Lisa stroked his cheek, fighting to keep her fear that he would die and her tears in check, failing as she watched him grow weaker.

"Stay with me Rick." She pleaded softly. "You're going to make it."

Rick smiled softly and cupped her cheek with his hand, Lisa having to fight hard to prevent herself from losing her control. Rick used his thumb to wipe away the tears that had fallen.

"Don't...cry..." His voice weak and strained. "Be...fine..."

His eyes closed and his breathing slowed.

"Rick. Rick wake up. Don't die on me! Please don't leave me!" She cried as his hand went limp.

She screamed in pain as Rick stopped breathing.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"MEDIC!"

Roy Fokker was sprinting to the alien battlepod, knocking flight crew and pilots aside and came upon the scene of the crew chief preforming CPR on an unmoving Rick.

"No! NO! Rick!" Roy cried out, trying to rush to his little brother's side. He saw Ben and Max trying to comfort a distraught Lisa as they both silently cried. The sounds of boots reached him and Roy spotted the medics arriving. One of them, a young lady took over the CPR after they transferred Rick's unmoving form to a stretcher.

"Got a weak pulse but he's lost a lot of blood! He needs a doc, fast!"

"MAKE A HOLE!" The lead media bellowed, gripping one set of handles.

Roy could only watch as the rushed past with Rick, his mind screaming at him to follow. Seeing Lisa and the others go told him just what he needed to do. They arrived at the military hospital that wasn't to far from the hangers and were asked to wait. Roy dropped into a chair, praying to God that Rick would live. Across from him, Lisa pulled her knees to her chest and buried her head in her hands, her body shaking from the silent sobs. Ben and Max had their eyes locked on the doors that t he stretcher had went through with Rick on it. Ben was feeling horrible as he hadn't noticed that part of the shrapnel had punched right through Rick, and hand bandagd everything else except the exit wound. He was muttering it was his fault while Max simple gripped the man's shoulder, trying to communicate it wasn't his fault. Roy locked his own gaze on the clock, watching the minutes tick bay and hadn't noticed Captain Gloval entering the room. Roy moved to stand but he waved him off. The Captain's gaze lingered on Lisa before he spoke.

"Has there been any word yet?"

"No sir. It's been forty-five minutes now."

"Well that is good news so far." He muttered moving to sit beside Lisa.

The woman looked up, her eyes red and puffy as Henry looked upon her, wishing he could somehow help. Instead, he lowered himself into the seat and placed a comforting arm around Lisa as the young woman tried to keep from breaking down. Roy looked once more to the doors.

"Come on Little Brother. Don't you die on me after all we've been through. Most of all, don't die on her you stubborn bastard." Roy pleaded, his eyes turning to Lisa once more. "Please don't die Rick."

Well...interesting twist or no? I always found it odd that no Zentradi Guards actually wondered into that bay and when i rewatched that episode, it bugged the military part of me as I know damn well any and all Military Hardware like a plane or a tank is under guard. Yes, it's possible there was laziness involved but at the same time, I think a species set around war would be guarding their war machines. Tiny prisoners who can't reach the door handle, not so much but a freaking battle pod bay? but I digress. Also, in the episode The Blind Game, after Rick came to from his fall, I found Lisa to be absolutely adorable with how shy she looked while talking to Rick. My anime crush is Lisa Hayes lol! Anyway, review or I'll pull a game of thrones on you!