December 24, 2014
Four friends gathered together to celebrate Christmas. It had been a difficult year for Vanessa, Rico, Konda, and Bron. The SDF-1 had been destroyed. Kim and Sammie were gone, and Vanessa had lain in a coma for many weeks before finally emerging. Vanessa pondered the events of the past year as she sat in the living room of her Zentraedi friends' apartment. Looking into the faces of her friends, she could tell that they all needed this time to give thanks for the fact that they still had one another.
"Merry Christmas everyone," Vanessa lifted up her glass of champagne, after they had finished eating their dinner.
Rico stared into his glass as he swished the contents around absentmindedly. He began to tremble.
"What's wrong?" Vanessa asked Rico, concerned.
"He's been like this all week," Konda tried to explain. "I think it's just- "
"Yes, I miss her," Rico bawled out. Everyone knew he was talking about Sammie. Rico looked like he was about to burst into tears.
"I can't help it, I'm sorry," Rico said. "I feel as if I don't know how to handle all these emotions. When I think that it was only one year ago when we were all together on Christmas and watched the lights go up on the SDF- 1, it's just too much."
Vanessa walked over to where Rico sat on the sofa, next to Bron. She put down her glass and, turning to Rico, hugged him gently.
"It's okay, we're here," Vanessa said, "Let it all out."
Rico began crying uncontrollably as he hugged Vanessa back, holding onto her for dear life. Vanessa's eyes went to Konda. Konda was a million miles away, standing across the room, looking out the window toward the stars, consumed in his own thoughts of Kim.
At the end of the evening, it was time for Vanessa to go home. Bron offered to walk Vanessa home, and Vanessa was happy to have his company.
They had spent a lot of time together in the months since Vanessa's return from the brink of death. Sometimes, Vanessa and Bron spent time out on the town together, and at other times, they were joined by Rico and Konda.
"I hope you had a nice time," Bron said hesitantly as he linked arms with Vanessa.
The two friends walked under a clear, starry midnight sky. Everything was quiet except for the low hum of automobile engines in the distance.
"I know it's not the same without Sammie and Kim," Bron added.
Vanessa stopped and turned to face Bron.
"It's not," Vanessa said, "and it could never be. But it's nice to know that I still have a family in this world."
Vanessa did not understand it. She had never felt this way toward anyone. She had been in relationships before, but she had never truly been in love before, and as she looked into Bron's eyes, she wondered if this was what love was like. When Vanessa thought of Bron, she pictured a man who was kind, courageous, and loyal, but who was a little bit of a buffoon. But even if Bron tended to appear a buffoon at times, it endeared him all the more to Vanessa. Bron's goofiness belied a good heart. He went out on his way to do good things for her.
And she adored him for it.
When Vanessa was with Bron, she did not feel the giddy schoolgirl excitement she would have felt as a younger woman. When Vanessa thought of Bron, the fireworks would not go off, nor would the blood rush to her head in romantic excitement. When Vanessa thought of Bron, she felt one thing above all other sensations. She felt a deep peace and contentment.
"Vanessa, I have something for you," Bron said sheepishly as he produced a small, wrapped Christmas present.
Vanessa's eyes went wide in surprise as she accepted the gift.
"Oh, I was wondering if I was going to get a present from you," Vanessa said, laughing. The wrapped box was so light. What could be inside?
"Go ahead," Bron said. "Open it."
Vanessa happily opened the box. Inside was a steel pendant on a silver chain.
"Bron," Vanessa said, "what is this?"
She turned the object over in her hand. The metallic pendant gleamed in the moonlight.
Vanessa pressed a button on the side of the pendant, and the two halves of the heart shaped pendant opened outward.
The pendant projected a small hologram of Vanessa, Kim, and Sammie. They were smiling cheerfully, without a care in the world. Their arms were around each other as they smiled and laughed for the camera.
"This was from Max and Miriya's wedding reception," Vanessa said, a lump forming in her throat as she remembered happier times.
"I took this picture, remember?" Bron said. "I thought it would be neat to have it converted into a holographic image. I hope you like it."
Vanessa passed a finger through Kim's miniature holographic image. The picture was so real, so lifelike. It seemed to Vanessa that the distance separating herself from her two dearest friends was not the immense barrier of life and death, but a distance of mere inches. All Vanessa had to do was reach out with her hand, and she could touch the faces of her lost friends. The Terrible Trio would be reunited once again.
"It's lovely," Vanessa said, tears in her eyes. "I'll treasure it always."
Vanessa slowly closed the pendant and put the chain around her neck.
She turned to look up at Bron, and they smiled at each other in silence for a few moments. Vanessa linked arms with Bron and they traversed the short remaining distance to Vanessa's quarters.
Vanessa stood in front of her door as Bron wished her a Merry Christmas and a good night. Before Bron could turn to leave, Vanessa took his hand and pulled him back. As the two stood there, holding hands and looking into each other's eyes, both of them understood the feelings they had toward one another. The mutual feeling of deep caring and affection ran through their hearts as they leaned in to kiss for the first time. And the feeling was not awkward, or strange, or alien.
It just felt right.
* * *
December 2022
On board the SDF-3, in front of everyone, Rick Hunter kissed his new bride, Lisa Hayes. It was the eve of the maiden voyage of the SDF-3 to the home world of the Robotech Masters. It was a truly happy moment for the friends of Rick and Lisa, and Vanessa felt blessed to be able to witness this joyous event, the culmination of the long romance between Rick and Lisa.
I wish Kim and Sammie could be here, Vanessa thought. She remembered the times she and her two friends would gossip aboard the bridge of the SDF-2, discussing with great enthusiasm the latest news and tidbits. They used to talk about whether or not Rick and Lisa would get engaged someday.
It felt like a million years ago.
"The only reason why we're laughing about it is it isn't happening to us," Kim once had said.
But it had happened to Vanessa. Vanessa, the only one of the Terrible Trio lucky enough to survive and rebuild her life with someone she loved.
Vanessa felt a tug on her sleeve.
"Why are you crying, mommy?"
Vanessa looked down at her daughter, Samantha. Her four-year-old daughter, her one great treasure. On that fateful Christmas night in 2014, eight years ago, Vanessa and Bron realized that they loved each other. They came to the realization that they could not live without one another, and they never wanted to be apart.
"I don't want to lose you, ever again," Bron had said that night.
Two years later, they were married. It was a small wedding, attended only by Rico, Konda, Rick Hunter, Lisa Hayes, and the Sterling family. Rico and Konda had both cried like babies, Vanessa fondly recalled.
"Mommy?" the little girl's gentle voice brought Vanessa back to the present.
Vanessa wiped a tear away from her eye, looked down at her little girl, and smiled.
"I was thinking about Rick and Lisa up there, Sam," Vanessa said, pointing to the newlyweds.
Samantha looked up at her mother inquisitively.
"I was remembering how they first fell in love."
Vanessa affectionately patted her daughter on the head. Seated on the other side of Vanessa, Bron pointed to the stage.
"Look, Minmei and Janice are about to sing," he whispered with excitement.
Vanessa smiled as the beautiful wedding song filled the room. Vanessa and Bron both realized that without Minmei's song, the two of them might never have met. It was Minmei's song that had captured the hearts of Bron, Rico, and Konda, and had motivated them to defect to the SDF-1. After all these years, Bron had never forgotten the joy of listening to a Minmei performance.
* * *
Years passed by peacefully. Vanessa lived happily with her family. It seemed to Vanessa that those years flew by her in the span of one breath, and that she had been living a dream from which she never wanted to awaken. Bron was a devoted husband, and Samantha was a wonderful daughter. There were times when, looking at her daughter, Vanessa could see traces not only of herself and Bron, but Sammie and Kim. Sometimes, Vanessa believed that the spirits of her friends lived on in her little girl. Many times, Vanessa felt great pride in her daughter. Samantha was a little quiet and shy, but she was also very sweet and considerate, and she loved her adopted uncles, Rico and Konda.
The clouds of war returned to cast a shadow on the earth once again. The Army of the Southern Cross pitted itself against the might of the Robotech Masters, and Vanessa felt herself caught up, once again, in the turmoil of the times. She remained at the same post, serving as a radar operator, but she had begun to long for an opportunity to leave the military and Monument City altogether.
On the last day of the Second Robotech War, an event would occur that would change Vanessa's world forever.
August 8, 2030
The enemy would arrive within minutes, and with their arrival would come the certain destruction of Monument City and everyone in it.
"You go ahead and leave if you want," Supreme Commander Leonard told his adjuvant. "I'm going to stay here until the battle is over."
Within seconds, the order for the evacuation of the command headquarters was given.
Vanessa, sitting at her post in the airfield tower, looked up in response to the voice on the PA system.
"The enemy has breached our defenses. All personnel must evacuate immediately!"
Vanessa did not need to think twice. She got up and ran for the exit stairs without hesitation, and she was joined by dozens of other personnel. There was no order to the evacuation. Sheer terror and panic gripped everyone, and every person was consumed by thoughts of escape. Who would have thought the war would have come to this?
This is it, she thought to herself.
The moment of destiny had arrived. Somehow, she needed to find her family and safely get out of the city as quickly as possible.
Vanessa had not gotten more than a hundred yards away from the command headquarters when it was suddenly hit by enemy fire. A merciless barrage of missiles and lasers descended upon the complex behind Vanessa with deadly accuracy, and the entire place was instantaneously torn apart by violent flames. In the heat of the moment, Vanessa barely had time to let the fact that she had just escaped death sink into her mind. Vanessa thought only of Bron and Samantha as she ran homeward as fast as her legs could carry her. The skies above burned with the nightmarish flames of desperate battle. Everywhere Vanessa looked, she saw smoke, rubble, and devastation. Destroyed hovertanks and bioroids, as well as dead civilians lay scattered along the broken streets. Vanessa had never witnessed anything so horrible since the "Rain of Death" brought upon the earth by Dolza, so many years ago.
"Vanessa! Over here!"
A few yards ahead, Vanessa saw Rico and Konda running to meet her.
"Where's Bron and Sam?" Vanessa shouted above the noise of the raging battle.
"They're heading toward the city limits right now," Rico shouted. "Bron sent us to find you and bring you back!"
Together, the three of them ran down the endless streets. As they paused near a street corner to catch their breath, Rico spotted two dead soldiers lying nearby. He ran out to them to pick up their laser rifles.
"What are you doing?" Vanessa cried.
"We have to protect you," Konda said.
Suddenly, Vanessa understood all as she looked into the determined eyes of Rico and Konda. The Zentraedi fighting spirit, long extinguished, had risen anew in Rico and Konda. Neither of them had thought they would ever bear arms in battle again, but now, for this one brief moment in time, they were soldiers again.
A bioroid on a hovercraft spotted Vanessa and her friends. Suddenly, the lone enemy fighter swooped down on their position, guns blazing.
"Run!" Rico cried as he squeezed off a couple of shots at the rapidly approaching bioroid craft, which pursued them from behind.
The three friends took off, racing down the cluttered avenue as enemy fire danced all around them, missing by the narrowest margins.
"We're almost at the evacuation point," Konda shouted. "Only a few more blocks!"
A single bioroid fighter stood between Vanessa, Rico, and Konda, and the evacuation area, and they were isolated. No one was coming to help them.
The bioroid craft zoomed above their heads with a deafening roar, and all three ducked reflexively. They watched fearfully as the bioroid turned his craft around to make another attack run.
"Why are they doing this? Why are they trying to kill us all?" Vanessa said.
"Run, Vanessa," Rico said, pointing toward a nearby alley that branched off to the right and led to a slightly more circuitous route to the city limits.
Konda pushed Vanessa in that general direction, and Vanessa took off running. She realized that Rico and Konda were not with her, and she turned back and looked at them across a distance of five yards.
Konda waved her off furiously.
"We'll cover you!"
"Come on, let's go!" Vanessa shouted.
Vanessa suddenly heard explosions all around her and realized the enemy was firing on her. She ducked behind the remains of a destroyed hovertank for what meager shelter it could provide.
"Hey, over here!" Rico hollered as he and Konda fired on the rapidly approaching enemy.
"RUN!" Konda shouted at Vanessa, and Vanessa did not think twice. She took off running once again.
The laser fire from Rico and Konda distracted the bioroid, and the bioroid responded with merciless wrath, cutting down the two Zentraedi in a hail of laser fire.
Vanessa turned as she reached the diverging alleyway and she saw Rico and Konda fall. A streak of smoke ran from the bioroid craft, evidently caused by the Zentraedis' laser fire. The bioroid passed over the two Zentraedi.
Horrified, Vanessa suppressed the urge to go back out to Rico and Konda. She ran so hard that she had nothing left for her tears. The shock of their deaths was so numbingly sudden, and the emotions she knew she would feel had not yet set in.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Vanessa reached the outskirts of the city. Amidst the crowd of people, Vanessa discerned her husband, holding Samantha by the hand and calling out Vanessa's name.
The population of Monument City was departing in a mass exodus, heading for the outlying hills. Bron and Samantha had remained closer to the city, hoping to find Vanessa on her way out.
"Bron!" Vanessa answered as loud as she could.
"Mom!" Samantha cried out in excitement as Vanessa closed the distance between them amidst the crowd of people.
Vanessa embraced Bron and Samantha at once. Words could not express the depth of relief that Vanessa felt upon reuniting with her family once again. Her body racked with sobs.
"Mom," Samantha said, looking up as Vanessa held her and Bron tightly, "what's wrong?"
"Rico and Konda are gone," Vanessa said, her voice choking. "They sacrificed themselves for me."
Vanessa's eyes met Bron's, and she could see his shock and grief.
"It's not safe here," Bron said, struggling to pull himself back together, "we have to get as far away from this city as possible."
Vanessa clutched Bron's hand tightly as he led her and Samantha down the road toward the surrounding hills and forests, where everyone else was headed. In a matter of days, her whole world had been turned upside down. The war had come to a climax, and the life she had known was being torn apart. Vanessa had no real thoughts on what she would do, or what kind of life she would lead in the days to come. She thought only of surviving, minute to minute.
A great commotion arose in the crowd, and there suddenly arose cries of alarm and panic.
"They're headed this way!" someone cried out, and everyone looked to the skies.
A pair of shot down bioroids and their smoking crafts were streaking down toward the procession of civilians like a pair of avenging angels. The calm procession now degenerated into a terrified stampede. People fell and were trampled underfoot as everyone jostled about, trying to get out of the way.
Vanessa looked up to the sky and understood that in an instant, the two hovercraft would hit the ground, and it was likely that she might die. She tried not to think of it as she held onto Bron's hand for dear life. She saw nothing but the blur of people, trying to clear the area, and she heard nothing but panicked shouts and terrible cries of pain.
In the chaos of the moment, a hand grabbed Vanessa by the collar and jerked her backward. Vanessa only had time to cry out Bron's name as she felt her hand pulled away from her husband's. The hand pulling her backward slipped from her jacket collar but remained gripped around her necklace.
Bron and Samantha turned to look for Vanessa, but they themselves were being swept forward by the tide of humanity.
Vanessa heard her name being called as she felt the thin necklace chain snap.
My pendant!
Vanessa was seized by the terror of losing her pendant. The very pendant that Bron had given to her on the night they had acknowledged their love for one another. She turned and managed to catch the pendant as it slipped out of the necklace chain and fell toward the ground.
At that very instant, the two bioroid hovercraft hit the ground in a tremendous explosion, throwing up bodies, dirt, and metallic debris in an enormous cloud of smoke.
Vanessa did not know how long she lay on the ground, dazed by the force of the blast. She was dirtied and bloodied, but none of that mattered to her. The explosion had hit some distance ahead of her. Vanessa was seized by the intense desire to find her husband and daughter and know that they were all right.
Unable to stand for the moment, Vanessa crawled forward on her hands and knees. She ignored the pain in her body and the dead and dying people around her as she moved forward.
Bron and Samantha both lay facedown on the ground, a few yards ahead.
"No," Vanessa's voice croaked in agony as she reached her family and turned them over to see their faces.
Samantha was dead. Her eyes were closed in a serene posture as she lay on the ground, the blood from the gaping shrapnel wound on her neck already beginning to dry.
"Vanessa," Bron whispered. Vanessa turned her eyes to her husband. Bron had been severely burned and cut by the explosion as well. He did not have long to live.
"I failed," Bron said, his lips curling into a faint, sheepish smile.
"What do you mean?" Vanessa said, still trying to absorb the shock of what had transpired. She pulled Bron to him and partly laid herself on top of him, one arm around his chest, the other behind his head.
"I failed to save our little girl," Bron gasped, wincing in pain with each breath.
"No, don't talk like that. You did all you could."
Vanessa, unable to control herself any longer, began weeping openly. Sobs of anguish racked her entire being as she held Bron closer to her.
"Shhh," the dying Bron soothed his wife, "don't cry."
"It can't end this way," Vanessa choked out, her voice failing her. "Don't leave me, please don't leave me. I love you so much."
"Vanessa," Bron said in an even voice, stronger this time.
Vanessa stifled her sobs and looked her husband in the eyes. Their faces were separated by mere inches.
"I'm so thankful that you came into my life," Bron said slowly, giving weight to each word. "But our time is at an end. Promise me something, Vanessa."
"What?" Vanessa said.
"Promise that you won't give up hope," Bron whispered.
"I promise," Vanessa said, sealing her vow with a final kiss. Bron kissed her back, and Vanessa felt him slowly fade away.
Vanessa, slowly and unwillingly, pulled away from Bron and gently closed his eyes with her fingers.
"Goodbye, my love," she whispered.
It was then that Vanessa realized that she had been clutching the pendant in her hand the entire time, since the moment that the explosion hit. It was hard to believe that this little thing, this pendant, had saved her life. Why, if she hadn't been jerked back at the last instant, she might have been killed along with Bron and Samantha. Perhaps it would have been better that way. Perhaps she had been cheated out of her destiny, once again.
"Don't give up hope," Vanessa heard Bron's calm voice in her head.
Vanessa sat contemplating her lost family, lying before her, for a long time. She closed her eyes and tried not to lose herself in grief, but to remember the happy moments they had shared as a family in the years of peace. If she could only hold onto these memories and remember the goodness in her life, maybe there was hope that one day she would find happiness again.
Elsewhere, the flagship of the Robotech Masters had been destroyed. Somewhere in the plains around Monument City, Dana Sterling was watching the spores of the Invid flower of life spread across the planet.
From where she sat, contemplating her future and the future of humanity, Vanessa Leeds looked up and saw the signs of the future. Somehow, Vanessa knew that she would pick up the pieces of her life and find her place in the world.
She did not know how it would be, but she knew it in her heart.
Four friends gathered together to celebrate Christmas. It had been a difficult year for Vanessa, Rico, Konda, and Bron. The SDF-1 had been destroyed. Kim and Sammie were gone, and Vanessa had lain in a coma for many weeks before finally emerging. Vanessa pondered the events of the past year as she sat in the living room of her Zentraedi friends' apartment. Looking into the faces of her friends, she could tell that they all needed this time to give thanks for the fact that they still had one another.
"Merry Christmas everyone," Vanessa lifted up her glass of champagne, after they had finished eating their dinner.
Rico stared into his glass as he swished the contents around absentmindedly. He began to tremble.
"What's wrong?" Vanessa asked Rico, concerned.
"He's been like this all week," Konda tried to explain. "I think it's just- "
"Yes, I miss her," Rico bawled out. Everyone knew he was talking about Sammie. Rico looked like he was about to burst into tears.
"I can't help it, I'm sorry," Rico said. "I feel as if I don't know how to handle all these emotions. When I think that it was only one year ago when we were all together on Christmas and watched the lights go up on the SDF- 1, it's just too much."
Vanessa walked over to where Rico sat on the sofa, next to Bron. She put down her glass and, turning to Rico, hugged him gently.
"It's okay, we're here," Vanessa said, "Let it all out."
Rico began crying uncontrollably as he hugged Vanessa back, holding onto her for dear life. Vanessa's eyes went to Konda. Konda was a million miles away, standing across the room, looking out the window toward the stars, consumed in his own thoughts of Kim.
At the end of the evening, it was time for Vanessa to go home. Bron offered to walk Vanessa home, and Vanessa was happy to have his company.
They had spent a lot of time together in the months since Vanessa's return from the brink of death. Sometimes, Vanessa and Bron spent time out on the town together, and at other times, they were joined by Rico and Konda.
"I hope you had a nice time," Bron said hesitantly as he linked arms with Vanessa.
The two friends walked under a clear, starry midnight sky. Everything was quiet except for the low hum of automobile engines in the distance.
"I know it's not the same without Sammie and Kim," Bron added.
Vanessa stopped and turned to face Bron.
"It's not," Vanessa said, "and it could never be. But it's nice to know that I still have a family in this world."
Vanessa did not understand it. She had never felt this way toward anyone. She had been in relationships before, but she had never truly been in love before, and as she looked into Bron's eyes, she wondered if this was what love was like. When Vanessa thought of Bron, she pictured a man who was kind, courageous, and loyal, but who was a little bit of a buffoon. But even if Bron tended to appear a buffoon at times, it endeared him all the more to Vanessa. Bron's goofiness belied a good heart. He went out on his way to do good things for her.
And she adored him for it.
When Vanessa was with Bron, she did not feel the giddy schoolgirl excitement she would have felt as a younger woman. When Vanessa thought of Bron, the fireworks would not go off, nor would the blood rush to her head in romantic excitement. When Vanessa thought of Bron, she felt one thing above all other sensations. She felt a deep peace and contentment.
"Vanessa, I have something for you," Bron said sheepishly as he produced a small, wrapped Christmas present.
Vanessa's eyes went wide in surprise as she accepted the gift.
"Oh, I was wondering if I was going to get a present from you," Vanessa said, laughing. The wrapped box was so light. What could be inside?
"Go ahead," Bron said. "Open it."
Vanessa happily opened the box. Inside was a steel pendant on a silver chain.
"Bron," Vanessa said, "what is this?"
She turned the object over in her hand. The metallic pendant gleamed in the moonlight.
Vanessa pressed a button on the side of the pendant, and the two halves of the heart shaped pendant opened outward.
The pendant projected a small hologram of Vanessa, Kim, and Sammie. They were smiling cheerfully, without a care in the world. Their arms were around each other as they smiled and laughed for the camera.
"This was from Max and Miriya's wedding reception," Vanessa said, a lump forming in her throat as she remembered happier times.
"I took this picture, remember?" Bron said. "I thought it would be neat to have it converted into a holographic image. I hope you like it."
Vanessa passed a finger through Kim's miniature holographic image. The picture was so real, so lifelike. It seemed to Vanessa that the distance separating herself from her two dearest friends was not the immense barrier of life and death, but a distance of mere inches. All Vanessa had to do was reach out with her hand, and she could touch the faces of her lost friends. The Terrible Trio would be reunited once again.
"It's lovely," Vanessa said, tears in her eyes. "I'll treasure it always."
Vanessa slowly closed the pendant and put the chain around her neck.
She turned to look up at Bron, and they smiled at each other in silence for a few moments. Vanessa linked arms with Bron and they traversed the short remaining distance to Vanessa's quarters.
Vanessa stood in front of her door as Bron wished her a Merry Christmas and a good night. Before Bron could turn to leave, Vanessa took his hand and pulled him back. As the two stood there, holding hands and looking into each other's eyes, both of them understood the feelings they had toward one another. The mutual feeling of deep caring and affection ran through their hearts as they leaned in to kiss for the first time. And the feeling was not awkward, or strange, or alien.
It just felt right.
* * *
December 2022
On board the SDF-3, in front of everyone, Rick Hunter kissed his new bride, Lisa Hayes. It was the eve of the maiden voyage of the SDF-3 to the home world of the Robotech Masters. It was a truly happy moment for the friends of Rick and Lisa, and Vanessa felt blessed to be able to witness this joyous event, the culmination of the long romance between Rick and Lisa.
I wish Kim and Sammie could be here, Vanessa thought. She remembered the times she and her two friends would gossip aboard the bridge of the SDF-2, discussing with great enthusiasm the latest news and tidbits. They used to talk about whether or not Rick and Lisa would get engaged someday.
It felt like a million years ago.
"The only reason why we're laughing about it is it isn't happening to us," Kim once had said.
But it had happened to Vanessa. Vanessa, the only one of the Terrible Trio lucky enough to survive and rebuild her life with someone she loved.
Vanessa felt a tug on her sleeve.
"Why are you crying, mommy?"
Vanessa looked down at her daughter, Samantha. Her four-year-old daughter, her one great treasure. On that fateful Christmas night in 2014, eight years ago, Vanessa and Bron realized that they loved each other. They came to the realization that they could not live without one another, and they never wanted to be apart.
"I don't want to lose you, ever again," Bron had said that night.
Two years later, they were married. It was a small wedding, attended only by Rico, Konda, Rick Hunter, Lisa Hayes, and the Sterling family. Rico and Konda had both cried like babies, Vanessa fondly recalled.
"Mommy?" the little girl's gentle voice brought Vanessa back to the present.
Vanessa wiped a tear away from her eye, looked down at her little girl, and smiled.
"I was thinking about Rick and Lisa up there, Sam," Vanessa said, pointing to the newlyweds.
Samantha looked up at her mother inquisitively.
"I was remembering how they first fell in love."
Vanessa affectionately patted her daughter on the head. Seated on the other side of Vanessa, Bron pointed to the stage.
"Look, Minmei and Janice are about to sing," he whispered with excitement.
Vanessa smiled as the beautiful wedding song filled the room. Vanessa and Bron both realized that without Minmei's song, the two of them might never have met. It was Minmei's song that had captured the hearts of Bron, Rico, and Konda, and had motivated them to defect to the SDF-1. After all these years, Bron had never forgotten the joy of listening to a Minmei performance.
* * *
Years passed by peacefully. Vanessa lived happily with her family. It seemed to Vanessa that those years flew by her in the span of one breath, and that she had been living a dream from which she never wanted to awaken. Bron was a devoted husband, and Samantha was a wonderful daughter. There were times when, looking at her daughter, Vanessa could see traces not only of herself and Bron, but Sammie and Kim. Sometimes, Vanessa believed that the spirits of her friends lived on in her little girl. Many times, Vanessa felt great pride in her daughter. Samantha was a little quiet and shy, but she was also very sweet and considerate, and she loved her adopted uncles, Rico and Konda.
The clouds of war returned to cast a shadow on the earth once again. The Army of the Southern Cross pitted itself against the might of the Robotech Masters, and Vanessa felt herself caught up, once again, in the turmoil of the times. She remained at the same post, serving as a radar operator, but she had begun to long for an opportunity to leave the military and Monument City altogether.
On the last day of the Second Robotech War, an event would occur that would change Vanessa's world forever.
August 8, 2030
The enemy would arrive within minutes, and with their arrival would come the certain destruction of Monument City and everyone in it.
"You go ahead and leave if you want," Supreme Commander Leonard told his adjuvant. "I'm going to stay here until the battle is over."
Within seconds, the order for the evacuation of the command headquarters was given.
Vanessa, sitting at her post in the airfield tower, looked up in response to the voice on the PA system.
"The enemy has breached our defenses. All personnel must evacuate immediately!"
Vanessa did not need to think twice. She got up and ran for the exit stairs without hesitation, and she was joined by dozens of other personnel. There was no order to the evacuation. Sheer terror and panic gripped everyone, and every person was consumed by thoughts of escape. Who would have thought the war would have come to this?
This is it, she thought to herself.
The moment of destiny had arrived. Somehow, she needed to find her family and safely get out of the city as quickly as possible.
Vanessa had not gotten more than a hundred yards away from the command headquarters when it was suddenly hit by enemy fire. A merciless barrage of missiles and lasers descended upon the complex behind Vanessa with deadly accuracy, and the entire place was instantaneously torn apart by violent flames. In the heat of the moment, Vanessa barely had time to let the fact that she had just escaped death sink into her mind. Vanessa thought only of Bron and Samantha as she ran homeward as fast as her legs could carry her. The skies above burned with the nightmarish flames of desperate battle. Everywhere Vanessa looked, she saw smoke, rubble, and devastation. Destroyed hovertanks and bioroids, as well as dead civilians lay scattered along the broken streets. Vanessa had never witnessed anything so horrible since the "Rain of Death" brought upon the earth by Dolza, so many years ago.
"Vanessa! Over here!"
A few yards ahead, Vanessa saw Rico and Konda running to meet her.
"Where's Bron and Sam?" Vanessa shouted above the noise of the raging battle.
"They're heading toward the city limits right now," Rico shouted. "Bron sent us to find you and bring you back!"
Together, the three of them ran down the endless streets. As they paused near a street corner to catch their breath, Rico spotted two dead soldiers lying nearby. He ran out to them to pick up their laser rifles.
"What are you doing?" Vanessa cried.
"We have to protect you," Konda said.
Suddenly, Vanessa understood all as she looked into the determined eyes of Rico and Konda. The Zentraedi fighting spirit, long extinguished, had risen anew in Rico and Konda. Neither of them had thought they would ever bear arms in battle again, but now, for this one brief moment in time, they were soldiers again.
A bioroid on a hovercraft spotted Vanessa and her friends. Suddenly, the lone enemy fighter swooped down on their position, guns blazing.
"Run!" Rico cried as he squeezed off a couple of shots at the rapidly approaching bioroid craft, which pursued them from behind.
The three friends took off, racing down the cluttered avenue as enemy fire danced all around them, missing by the narrowest margins.
"We're almost at the evacuation point," Konda shouted. "Only a few more blocks!"
A single bioroid fighter stood between Vanessa, Rico, and Konda, and the evacuation area, and they were isolated. No one was coming to help them.
The bioroid craft zoomed above their heads with a deafening roar, and all three ducked reflexively. They watched fearfully as the bioroid turned his craft around to make another attack run.
"Why are they doing this? Why are they trying to kill us all?" Vanessa said.
"Run, Vanessa," Rico said, pointing toward a nearby alley that branched off to the right and led to a slightly more circuitous route to the city limits.
Konda pushed Vanessa in that general direction, and Vanessa took off running. She realized that Rico and Konda were not with her, and she turned back and looked at them across a distance of five yards.
Konda waved her off furiously.
"We'll cover you!"
"Come on, let's go!" Vanessa shouted.
Vanessa suddenly heard explosions all around her and realized the enemy was firing on her. She ducked behind the remains of a destroyed hovertank for what meager shelter it could provide.
"Hey, over here!" Rico hollered as he and Konda fired on the rapidly approaching enemy.
"RUN!" Konda shouted at Vanessa, and Vanessa did not think twice. She took off running once again.
The laser fire from Rico and Konda distracted the bioroid, and the bioroid responded with merciless wrath, cutting down the two Zentraedi in a hail of laser fire.
Vanessa turned as she reached the diverging alleyway and she saw Rico and Konda fall. A streak of smoke ran from the bioroid craft, evidently caused by the Zentraedis' laser fire. The bioroid passed over the two Zentraedi.
Horrified, Vanessa suppressed the urge to go back out to Rico and Konda. She ran so hard that she had nothing left for her tears. The shock of their deaths was so numbingly sudden, and the emotions she knew she would feel had not yet set in.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Vanessa reached the outskirts of the city. Amidst the crowd of people, Vanessa discerned her husband, holding Samantha by the hand and calling out Vanessa's name.
The population of Monument City was departing in a mass exodus, heading for the outlying hills. Bron and Samantha had remained closer to the city, hoping to find Vanessa on her way out.
"Bron!" Vanessa answered as loud as she could.
"Mom!" Samantha cried out in excitement as Vanessa closed the distance between them amidst the crowd of people.
Vanessa embraced Bron and Samantha at once. Words could not express the depth of relief that Vanessa felt upon reuniting with her family once again. Her body racked with sobs.
"Mom," Samantha said, looking up as Vanessa held her and Bron tightly, "what's wrong?"
"Rico and Konda are gone," Vanessa said, her voice choking. "They sacrificed themselves for me."
Vanessa's eyes met Bron's, and she could see his shock and grief.
"It's not safe here," Bron said, struggling to pull himself back together, "we have to get as far away from this city as possible."
Vanessa clutched Bron's hand tightly as he led her and Samantha down the road toward the surrounding hills and forests, where everyone else was headed. In a matter of days, her whole world had been turned upside down. The war had come to a climax, and the life she had known was being torn apart. Vanessa had no real thoughts on what she would do, or what kind of life she would lead in the days to come. She thought only of surviving, minute to minute.
A great commotion arose in the crowd, and there suddenly arose cries of alarm and panic.
"They're headed this way!" someone cried out, and everyone looked to the skies.
A pair of shot down bioroids and their smoking crafts were streaking down toward the procession of civilians like a pair of avenging angels. The calm procession now degenerated into a terrified stampede. People fell and were trampled underfoot as everyone jostled about, trying to get out of the way.
Vanessa looked up to the sky and understood that in an instant, the two hovercraft would hit the ground, and it was likely that she might die. She tried not to think of it as she held onto Bron's hand for dear life. She saw nothing but the blur of people, trying to clear the area, and she heard nothing but panicked shouts and terrible cries of pain.
In the chaos of the moment, a hand grabbed Vanessa by the collar and jerked her backward. Vanessa only had time to cry out Bron's name as she felt her hand pulled away from her husband's. The hand pulling her backward slipped from her jacket collar but remained gripped around her necklace.
Bron and Samantha turned to look for Vanessa, but they themselves were being swept forward by the tide of humanity.
Vanessa heard her name being called as she felt the thin necklace chain snap.
My pendant!
Vanessa was seized by the terror of losing her pendant. The very pendant that Bron had given to her on the night they had acknowledged their love for one another. She turned and managed to catch the pendant as it slipped out of the necklace chain and fell toward the ground.
At that very instant, the two bioroid hovercraft hit the ground in a tremendous explosion, throwing up bodies, dirt, and metallic debris in an enormous cloud of smoke.
Vanessa did not know how long she lay on the ground, dazed by the force of the blast. She was dirtied and bloodied, but none of that mattered to her. The explosion had hit some distance ahead of her. Vanessa was seized by the intense desire to find her husband and daughter and know that they were all right.
Unable to stand for the moment, Vanessa crawled forward on her hands and knees. She ignored the pain in her body and the dead and dying people around her as she moved forward.
Bron and Samantha both lay facedown on the ground, a few yards ahead.
"No," Vanessa's voice croaked in agony as she reached her family and turned them over to see their faces.
Samantha was dead. Her eyes were closed in a serene posture as she lay on the ground, the blood from the gaping shrapnel wound on her neck already beginning to dry.
"Vanessa," Bron whispered. Vanessa turned her eyes to her husband. Bron had been severely burned and cut by the explosion as well. He did not have long to live.
"I failed," Bron said, his lips curling into a faint, sheepish smile.
"What do you mean?" Vanessa said, still trying to absorb the shock of what had transpired. She pulled Bron to him and partly laid herself on top of him, one arm around his chest, the other behind his head.
"I failed to save our little girl," Bron gasped, wincing in pain with each breath.
"No, don't talk like that. You did all you could."
Vanessa, unable to control herself any longer, began weeping openly. Sobs of anguish racked her entire being as she held Bron closer to her.
"Shhh," the dying Bron soothed his wife, "don't cry."
"It can't end this way," Vanessa choked out, her voice failing her. "Don't leave me, please don't leave me. I love you so much."
"Vanessa," Bron said in an even voice, stronger this time.
Vanessa stifled her sobs and looked her husband in the eyes. Their faces were separated by mere inches.
"I'm so thankful that you came into my life," Bron said slowly, giving weight to each word. "But our time is at an end. Promise me something, Vanessa."
"What?" Vanessa said.
"Promise that you won't give up hope," Bron whispered.
"I promise," Vanessa said, sealing her vow with a final kiss. Bron kissed her back, and Vanessa felt him slowly fade away.
Vanessa, slowly and unwillingly, pulled away from Bron and gently closed his eyes with her fingers.
"Goodbye, my love," she whispered.
It was then that Vanessa realized that she had been clutching the pendant in her hand the entire time, since the moment that the explosion hit. It was hard to believe that this little thing, this pendant, had saved her life. Why, if she hadn't been jerked back at the last instant, she might have been killed along with Bron and Samantha. Perhaps it would have been better that way. Perhaps she had been cheated out of her destiny, once again.
"Don't give up hope," Vanessa heard Bron's calm voice in her head.
Vanessa sat contemplating her lost family, lying before her, for a long time. She closed her eyes and tried not to lose herself in grief, but to remember the happy moments they had shared as a family in the years of peace. If she could only hold onto these memories and remember the goodness in her life, maybe there was hope that one day she would find happiness again.
Elsewhere, the flagship of the Robotech Masters had been destroyed. Somewhere in the plains around Monument City, Dana Sterling was watching the spores of the Invid flower of life spread across the planet.
From where she sat, contemplating her future and the future of humanity, Vanessa Leeds looked up and saw the signs of the future. Somehow, Vanessa knew that she would pick up the pieces of her life and find her place in the world.
She did not know how it would be, but she knew it in her heart.