Story 1 part 5
Day 3 continued....
Rick had decided to go on patrol, he needed to be
flying in order to try and clear his wrecked mind a bit, but it didn't
help. Everytime he called up to the now auxillary bridge, it reminded
him of Lisa. Whenever he received coordinates, it reminded him of
Lisa. Whenever he looked at his instruments and looked at the comm
screen to the bridge, it reminded him of Lisa. He had hoped that
each time he looked at that screen, he would see Lisa. But he didn't,
and he realized that he wouldn't see her on that screen for quite some
time.
He managed to clear everything from his mind for
the next two hours, as hard as that was to do, in order to not lose concentration
and either end up crashing into a wingman or crashing into the SDF-1.
He was proud of himself for being crash-free for this patrol but he knew
he would not be able to sustain his concentration for very long.
He wondered if he should take some time off, but what would he do?
He wanted to be by Lisa's bedside but it was just too difficult for him
to stay there very long. Just being there in the room with her being
practically lifeless made him feel as if his heart were being ripped out
from his chest.
After landing and then going to shower and change,
Rick headed to Mess Hall for dinner. He carried his tray back to
his table but just picked at his food. He looked around him and saw
people seemingly enjoying each others company. He watched couples
in particular and remembered the many times when he and Lisa would come
to the Mess to go over reports and schedules. A wave of emptiness
came over him and he left his table and tossed his unfinished dinner into
the trash.
Rick wandered aimlessly through the halls of the
SDF-1 and ended up near the quarters of the bridge crews. He ended
up in the hall where Lisa's quarters were located and went up to her door.
'Why didn't I stop by and see her when I had the chance?'
Rick stared at the door and put his hand against the wall just to the right
of the doorbell. He wondered if he should ring and hope for an improbable
miracle, that Lisa would open the door and greet him with what he so longed
to see for the past two days, bright green eyes and a smile.
The image of Lisa so strongly occupied all of Rick's
thoughts at the moment that he didn't hear Sammie walk up.
"Hello Rick..." said Sammie quietly.
Rick turned around, his heart beating rapidly, not
knowing who it was and hoping against hope that it was Lisa. Rick
got his eyes to focus and he realized that it was Sammie who was standing
in front of him.
"Sammie...uh...hi..." said Rick, trying to keep
the disappointment out of his voice.
"I'm sorry, I hope I didn't startle you," replied
Sammie, studying Rick's face and trying to get a gauge of his emotions.
Rick shook his head, "It's alright."
Sammie watched Rick and noticed a haunted look on
his face, even his blue eyes, which always seemed to glow like neon, looked
faded, worn out with despair.
"I guess you must be wondering what I'm doing here,"
said Rick as he turned around and leaned against the wall.
Sammie didn't know what to say so she just simply
shrugged. She was indeed surprised to find Rick there, but after
thinking about it, given what had happened for the past two days, it occurred
to her that she shouldn't really be surprised. It also got her thinking
about..just how much did Rick care for Lisa? She believed
that it was much more than she or anyone, and maybe even Rick himself,
had originally thought.
"I...I just couldn't stay away...I was here the
day she went home sick, the day before the bridge was hit, and I had come
to see if she was ok, but..." Rick stopped, took a deep breath, then sighed
loudly.
"But...?" asked Sammie, impatient to know what happened.
Rick looked down at the ground and said quietly,
"But...Minmei called and asked me to come over right then...so I did...I
regret it, I really do."
Sammie was about to comment when she saw a few people
walking in their direction, so she waited until they passed then said,
"Rick, I don't think this is the best place to talk. It's shift-change
time, lots of people will be coming and going. Why don't...why don't
we go to my quarters and have some tea or coffee."
Rick shuffled his feet and mumbled, "It's alright,
I don't want to bother you, you must be tired."
Sammie shook her head and said, "No, I'll be fine.
Besides, it's kinda lonely there without Kim and Vanessa. We can
keep each other company for a little while. I can show you our photoalbums,
we've got quite a few pictures of Lisa I can show you, if you want to see
them."
Rick looked up when he heard Lisa's name and nodded,
"Ok, I'd very much like to see them."
Rick poured two cups of coffee and waited for Sammie
to come out of the bathroom. When she came out, dressed in a comfortable
set of sweats, she went to the bookshelf and pulled a few binders and set
them down on the table.
"I'm sorry, I didn't ask how Kim and Vanessa are,"
said Rick as he noticed how quiet the room seemed to be without it's other
two occupants.
"They're doing pretty good, I saw them before I
came home. Kim will have to have some weeks of rehab, but she should
be ok. Vanessa should be back on her feet sooner than Kim," replied
Sammie as she took a sip of her coffee.
Rick put down his cup then picked up one of the
photo albums and began to leaf through it.
"There's a Lisa section in the back," stated Sammie,
"that's our album from when we all went to South Macross Island for a three-day
vacation."
Rick quickly skipped to the back pages and eagerly
looked over the various pictures. There was one with Lisa and Sammie,
both wearing identical sunhats, waving at the camera. Then there
was one of Lisa and Kim arm wrestling, then another one of Lisa manning
the wheel of a small yacht, then another one of Lisa shopping. Rick
noticed that in each picture, Lisa was smiling and seemed extremely happy,
and it brought a smile to his face.
Sammie watched Rick and saw that he was entranced
with the pictures and decided to play devil's advocate a bit, "Hey Rick,
check this one out over here, this is the page from when we went swimming
in the lagoon, look at the water, isn't it beautiful!?"
Rick looked over the page and first saw a picture
of the Trio, Lisa, Claudia, and Roy, in swim attire. Lisa was standing
behind Sammie, so he couldn't get a good look at what she looked like in
her bathing suit. He looked at the next picture that had Sammie and
Lisa and Sammie pointed to the picture and exclaimed, "Look! Don't
we look great in our bathing suits?!"
Rick chuckled and then studied the picture more
carefully but Sammie cut him off by saying, "Wait, you don't want to see
me with my big butt, turn the page, there's some good ones of Lisa by herself.
We teased her so much on that trip, we kept telling she should go try out
for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, heehee."
Rick turned the page with anticipation and Sammie
smiled as she saw Rick's eyes nearly pop out of his head.
"What did I tell you!" exclaimed Sammie. "Here
here, look at this one. We wanted it to look just like one of those
magazine pictures, so we made Lisa go back into the water and come out
again, like 8 times, because we wanted to get the picture perfect.
I think it looks great!"
Rick stared at the picture, it did indeed look like
something from a magazine and Lisa did indeed look like a swimsuit model.
Sammie let a minute go by, watching Rick just sit
and stare at the picture.
"I bet you never imagined Lisa could look like that
huh Rick?" said Sammie quietly, not sure if she had any right to interfere
in Rick and Lisa's relationship. She, Vanessa, and Kim had speculated
that Lisa was in love with Rick and concluded that Lisa was keeping her
distance because of Rick's involvement with Minmei. Although she
found Rick annoying at times, he could be a very nice guy, not to mention
that he was really cute, and even though Lisa was five years older than
Rick, the Trio thought they made a perfect couple.
"She's...gorgeous," said Rick quietly, almost as
a whisper to himself.
Sammie wanted to add that Lisa should've entered
the Miss Macross contest but decided to keep her mouth shut for the time
being.
"Um...Rick, if you want, you can have that picture.
You can have any other ones of Lisa that you want too. Go ahead and
pick out which ever ones you want," offered Sammie.
Rick nodded slowly and said quietly, "Yes, if you
don't mind, I'd like that very much."
Sammie sat quietly for a few minutes and watched
as Rick looked through the pages of photos, then decided to be a bit inquisitive,
"Rick, can I ask you something? And you don't have to answer if you
don't want to."
Rick looked at her, and thought for a moment, then
said, "Sure, go ahead and ask whatever you want."
Sammie fidgeted slightly then asked, ""I...well...I
was just surprised at how much you've been affected by all that's happened.
I didn't think...uh...what I mean is...well, I know you must feel really
bad about what happened, but it wasn't your fault..."
"Yes it is my fault Sammie," interrupted Rick.
"No, it isn't," said Sammie firmly, "even if Lisa
hadn't gone to the front of the bridge, she'd still be the one closest
to the breach."
Rick mulled it over for awhile and realized that
Sammie was right, but that didn't disspate his guilt.
"You said you wanted to ask a question...?" said
Rick flatly, wanting Sammie to come out and just ask what was on her mind.
Sammie began cautiously, "Oh, yeah, well...I guess
my question is...how do you...feel about Lisa? I know you guys fight
alot but when you don't, you seem to get along pretty well. I, and
everyone else I guess, is just surprised that you were so upset, it was
almost as if..."
"As if what?" Rick cut in.
"I don't know...it's just that I would expect Roy
to act like that if it were Claudia, or Max if it were Miriya," explained
Sammie, wondering if Rick understood what she was trying to hint at.
Rick looked at her with a perplexed look and she
added, "Um...well I know you're involved with Minmei...so I guess if it
were Minmei instead of Lisa you'd probably be even more upset..."
Sammie saw that Rick was completely confused and
so she pretended to yawn and get rid of Rick before she stuck her foot
in her mouth anymore than she already had.
She got up and went to get an envelope for the pictures
Rick was going to take with him. As Sammie was placing the pictures
in the envelope she said, "You know Rick, you're a really good friend.
I'm sure Lisa would really appreciate all that you've done for her."
Rick stood up and had barely heard Sammie's last
comment. He was too busy trying to answer the question, how did he
feel about Lisa? Then he was also trying to figure out whether he
would be even more upset if it were Minmei who had been injured rather
than Lisa.
Rick's mind was a jumble and he shuffled out of
Sammie's room, weakly thanking her for the pictures and wishing her a good
night before heading back to the barracks.
Back in his small room, Rick changed his clothes
and climbed up to his bunk and laid down and stared at the ceiling.
He had thought about going to see Lisa again but he couldn't bring himself
to do it.
As he stared at the ceiling, Sammie's question and
comment kept alternating in his mind, how did he feel about Lisa? and would
he be more upset if it were Minmei injured? He thought that the first
question would be more difficult to answer. As for how he'd react
if Minmei were injured... he tried to create the scenario in his mind and
no matter how many times he tried, he didn't think he could feel that stinging
pain of losing Minmei that he did when he thought about losing Lisa.
Maybe it was because, even though he tried to dismiss the notion, the fact
was that Minmei really didn't seem to care about him very much, at least
not the way he wanted her to, and it made him feel hopeless most of the
time.
Lisa, on the other hand, when she wasn't mad at
him, was very concerned and interested to know what was going on in his
life and how he was feeling and she eminated a deep, real, caring and compassionate
vibe when he was with her.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Flashback ^^^^^^^^^^^^
Rick had just finished writing the condolance letter
to Ben Dixon's parents, even though it couldn't be delivered until the
SDF-1 was officially allowed to land on Earth and re-establish communications
on the ground. Rick needed to write it, he felt it was his duty and
thought that he personally should write it, instead of the Casualty Office,
in order to make it more honorable to Ben's memory.
Rick wandered through Macross Central Park.
It was near midnight and there was no one in sight. 'Good, I need
to be alone...' Rick thought to himself.
Rick thought that maybe he should tell Minmei, since
she had seen Ben a few times at the restaurant. Rick found a park
bench and sat down and pulled out his cellphone.
"Hi Minmei," said Rick quietly.
"Hello, oh Rick hi. Listen, I was just about
to go to sleep, I'm exhausted. Can you make it quick please," replied
Minmei.
"Umm, yeah sure. I just wanted to let you
know that Ben Dixon was killed in action yesterday," said Rick somberly.
"Ben Dixon?...Um, I'm sorry, I don't recognize the
name," answered Minmei.
Rick looked at the phone in disbelief, then replied,
"Ben Dixon, you know, my wingman. We had been to the restaurant several
times."
"Oh...oh, the guy with the blue hair and glasses?"
asked Minmei, still clueless.
"No Minmei, Ben, the tall stocky guy. The
one who always ordered two steaks," replied Rick, starting to grow frustrated.
"Oh...gee, I'm sorry Rick, I've been so busy, it's
as if my days at the restaurant were all a big blur, hehehe," said Minmei
in a lighter manner than Rick thought appropriate.
'Doesn't she understand? Ben died!'
thought Rick angrily.
"Well, I thought you would've remembered him, which
is why I thought to call you and let you know, anyways, I'm sorry I took
up your time, you have a good night Minmei," said Rick, trying to keep
the anger out of his voice.
"I'm sorry Rick. You know, maybe if you go
out and try and not think about it then you won't feel so bad, you know,
like just put it behind you. Well anyways, thanks for calling Rick,
goodnight," said an unaffected Minmei.
Rick heard the dialtone and was so angry that he
felt like throwing his phone on the floor. Instead, he decided he'd
head to the gym and hit the punching bag for awhile. He started stalking
off and rounded the corner around a group of tall shrubs when he ran right
into someone.
"I'm so sorry!" Rick apologized.
"It's alright, next time, I'll remember to wear
my hockey gear whenever I'm walking out here," replied Lisa as she rubbed
her shoulder.
"Lisa!" exclaimed Rick, surprised, that of all people,
he should run into her.
Lisa gave him a small smile and shrugged as she
continued to nurse her shoulder.
"I'm so sorry! It was so deserted out here
I didn't think anyone else was here except me," explained Rick, then put
a gentle hand on Lisa's shoulder and asked, "you're not hurt too badly
are you? Do we need to go to the emergency room or something?
I can take you if you want."
Lisa hesitated for a moment then answered, "No...thank
you though, but I'll be fine."
Rick dropped his hands down at his side, "Damn,
I'm really sorry Lisa. I guess I was just too preoccupied and upset
that I just stormed through here without paying attention."
Rick saw Lisa's eyes register concern and even a
bit of fright before she asked softly, "Why are you upset Rick? It
must be about Ben, would you like to talk about it? I mean...if you
want to."
Rick felt relieved that she offered to listen, in
fact, he always felt relieved when she offered to listen to him, which
was often, but he knew it was late and after he had seemingly injured her
he didn't want to bother her further by keeping her up half the night listening
to his grievances.
"That's so nice of you, but I don't want to keep
you up, it's late and now I've bummed out your shoulder..." replied Rick
apologetically.
Lisa shook her head, "Nonsense. You know that
I'm always available to listen to you, no matter what time of the day."
Rick knew she meant what she said and looked around
them and saw another park bench several dozen feet in front of them, so
he gently put his hand on the back of her shoulder and escorted over to
the bench. Once he was assured that Lisa was comfortably seated,
he began his account of his phone conversation with Minmei.
"I'm sorry she wasn't more sympathetic Rick," replied
Lisa quietly, after hearing Rick's story.
"Yeah, me too. Well, I guess I shouldn't be
surprised. She seems to live in her own little world all the time,"
said Rick, leaning back against the bench, then he chuckled a bit and shook
his head, "I guess that's Minmei for you."
Lisa remained quiet. Rick always noticed that,
although there were many opportunities present in their conversations,
Lisa never took any cheap shots at Minmei, even though she could have easily.
Rick respected this about Lisa, he thought it showed a lot of class.
"I...I wrote the condolance letter before I came
out here to the park," Rick said as he stood up. He then looked back
at Lisa with a pained look that reflected the pain he felt and said, "That's
one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do..."
Lisa watched as Rick covered his eyes with his right
hand and bit out in a choked up voice, "Dammit, I miss him already..."
Lisa got up quickly, and despite the pain in her
shoulder, wrapped her arms around Rick.
"Why? Why Ben?" asked a grieving Rick as he
held onto Lisa.
"I'm sorry, I don't know why..." answered Lisa softly,
emotion in her voice as well.
Rick held onto Lisa tightly, he felt so glad that
she was there to hold onto, it comforted him knowing that he wasn't alone
and that someone understood what he felt. He remained quiet for several
more minutes, just letting his mind replay memories of Ben and then when
he finished revisiting the past he turned his attention to the present.
Lisa was still holding onto him and she had remained quiet throughout,
just letting him be and grieve in peace, instead of trying to tell him
to put it behind him and move on, like Minmei had told him to do.
Lisa understood that it would take a long time to heal, and Rick appreciated
that.
Rick let his senses take over and realized how good
it felt to be in Lisa's arms. He didn't ever want to let go.
She gave him a calmness and comfort that he couldn't feel from anyone else,
not even Minmei. Minmei. What would she think of him being
in the arms of another woman? He didn't care at this point, all he
knew was that he didn't want to leave Lisa's embrace. He wondered
what was going on in Lisa's mind and if she felt the same way about him,
then he remembered that he had shoulder-checked Lisa earlier and blurted
out, "Oh! You're shoulder! I'm sorry, did I squeeze you too
tight? Did I hurt you?"
Lisa looked as if she were trying to hide a smile
as she answered, "No, not at all Rick, in fact, I totally forgot about
my shoulder, and...what do you know, it feels much better now."
Rick apologized again, "I'm so sorry,"
"It's alright," said Lisa as she held up her hand
to halt him from apologizing again.
"So...what were you doing out here, just out of
curiosity," asked Rick.
"I take a walk out here, once a week, just to be
alone and have some peace and quiet to think about things," said Lisa as
she looked at the ground.
Rick nodded his head, "Yeah, it's nice to have a
place to escape to after a hectic day."
Lisa nodded and they both started walking towards
their respective quarters, on the way there swapping stories about Ben.
As they neared the floor for Rick's quarters, they stopped at a small lookout
window and reflected for a little while, then Rick got ready to head to
his room.
"Well, I...first of all, I want to apologize for
hurting your shoulder. Please, if you are having trouble with it
let me know and I'll come over and massage it or something, it's the least
I can do," said a repentant Rick.
Lisa gave a tired smile and assured Rick that she
would be fine.
As Rick turned to leave he stopped and turned back
to Lisa and walked up closer to her, "Lisa...thank you. Thank you
for being here for me. I really...really do appreciate it.
I feel better now, sometimes it makes all the difference in the world to
just have someone to listen to you and understand you," then Rick leaned
over and gave Lisa a quick kiss on the cheek.
Lisa looked shocked and Rick wondered if maybe he
shouldn't have kissed her, but Lisa quickly shook herself out of her stupor
and said, in somewhat of a pained voice it occured to Rick, "You don't
have to thank me. You know I'm here for you whenever you need me.
I'm glad you're feeling better, and it is true, it does help to have someone
to talk to." She looked as if she was about to give Rick a return
kiss on the cheek but she she stopped herself and hurriedly said goodnight
and quickly headed into the nearby elevator.
Rick sighed and headed to his room, wishing that
Lisa was still there with him.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ End Flashback ^^^^^^^^^^^^
Rick rolled over on his side and tried to remember
what it felt like to hold Lisa in his arms. How do you feel about
Lisa? Sammie's question replayed itself over and over again.
How did he feel about Lisa? He wished that he had an immediate
answer but that was not possible at the moment. He felt too many
emotions and they were so jumbled together that he couldn't possibly begin
to make sense out of them all.
He grew restless just trying to think about one
thing or another so he got down from his bunk and decided to look through
the pictures he had received from Sammie. He liked all of them, especially
the swimsuit one and one of Lisa sitting on the beach looking out over
the ocean, a thoughtful, intelligent look on her face.
Rick turned on his computer and powered on his scanner
and decided to enlarge some of the pictures so he could stick them on his
wall. He had invested a fair amount of money on a good printer and
scanner because he had collected a great deal of Minmei photos and would
retouch them or enlarge them and print them out in his spare time.
There was a large Minmei photo on the side wall nearest his bunk, but he
felt he had grown tired of it and pulled it down. There was also
another Minmei poster on his door, but he decided he was tired of that
too and also took it down.
After Rick had completed all of his scanning he
opened up his graphics program and had an idea of making a new desktop
background wallpaper from the photos he had scanned. After about
an hour of adding and arranging the pictures, adding tints and shadows
and other special effects, Rick was satisfied with the Lisa-themed desktop
wallpaper he had come up with.
He then enlarged and printed out his two favorite
Lisa pictures and decided to call it a night, but first called the hospital
to see how Lisa was doing.
"I'm afraid there's no change Rick," replied Dr.
Jean Grant, the new medical intern, and Claudia Gran'ts sister-in-law.
"Ok. Well, please let me know if anything
comes up," replied Rick with discouragement.
"I will Rick, you get some rest now, you've got
a long trip ahead of you tommorrow," remarked Jean.
"Trip?? Oh s--t! I forgot! Thanks for
reminding me," said Rick.
Jean added, "I think Captain Gloval said something
about leaving a message for you at the check-in station."
"Message...I didn't even bother to ask them, ok,
I'll go check now, thanks again!" said Rick before hanging up the phone
and dashing out the door.
The orders were clear and simple, leave at 8am and
pick up Admiral Hayes at Alaska Base and bring him back to the SDF-1.
Rick felt nervous. He had never heard much
about Lisa's father and didn't know if he could make a good impression
on the Admiral.
Rick set his alarm and decided to try and sleep
instead of worrying.
* * * * * * *
"Nicholas, you have to be out of your mind, you just
can run off whenever you want," said Blaine with annoyance.
Hayes pounded his fist on the table and shot to
his feet, "Damn you, my daughter could be dying! Don't you
understand?? Unless all of you suddenly forgot what it's like to have children."
Herbert reclined back in his chair and replied,
"Of course we know what it's like to be a parent Nick, but they are old
enough to take care of themselves. I'm sure they are taking extremely
good care of your daughter aboard the SDF-1."
"Weren't you listening to what I said?! Lisa
was nearly killed! I need to be there with her," said Hayes, flairing
with anger and desperation.
Zukav turned to the rest of the Council and said
calmly, "I think we can handle things here for awhile, until Nicholas gets
back."
Councilman Blaine whined, "But Nick is the mastermind
behind the Grand Cannon! What happens if we are attacked?? Then what
are we going to do if he's stuck on the SDF-1??"
Edwards rolled his eyes in disgust at Blaine's cowardice.
"T.R. will remain here to help you incase that happens,
although I highly doubt you'll have to worry about anything. I am
going to the SDF-1, otherwise..." Hayes lingered on his sentence.
"Otherwise what?" asked Herbert.
Hayes glared at them all then answered, "Otherwise
I shall resign."
The room erupted into chaos and everyone except
Zukav and Edwards questioned Hayes' sanity. Finally Zukav got everyone
to quiet down and said, "I am in favor of allowing Hayes this leave of
absence."
The other council members looked at each other and
thought it over for a moment. Hayes was their most valuable member
and they knew it, Zukav was second most valuable because he was in charge
of the very important European sector. It would be unwise to cross
both men.
Herbert threw up his hands in resignation, "Alright,
but make sure you get back here as soon as you can."
After the meeting, as Hayes was heading back to his
quarters, Zukav caught up with him and the two walked down the hall.
"Thank you for your help Anton," said Hayes distractedly.
"It's quite alright Nick. I know what it is
like to have children, and to lose them too," replied Zukav quietly, remember
his own son that had been killed in action over six months ago.
Hayes nodded and remained silent.
"Your daughter is bright and tough, anyone can see
that. I'm sure she'll make it through Nick," said Zukav as they neared
his quarters.
"Thank you Anton."
Zukav punched his command code into the console
and his door swished open. Before entering he shook Hayes hand and
said confidently, "Godspeed to you and Lisa."
Hayes nodded his thanks and turned around slowly
and headed to his quarters. On his way there he thought about what
Zukav had said and wondered if maybe he should've gone the cowardly route,
at least Lisa wouldn't be hurt right now. No. She wanted to
carry on the family's military dynasty, and ever since she had joined up
she had done the family name proud. She wasn't one to run away and
hide from danger, he knew that when she applied for openings on the SDF-1.
He hated the idea of her being on an alien ship, engaging in combat with
an alien enemy, and his fears were verified when the SDF-1 was under constant
barrage by the Zentraedi and when Lisa was taken as a POW. He thought
maybe that incident might have rattled her into consider leaving the SDF-1,
but it didn't, and although he continued to fear for her, he had to admit
that he felt very proud of her.
So what was he going to do now? Was he going
to bring her back home where he could send her to any medical specialist
she needed? Or was he going to let her stay on the SDF-1, where she
felt she belonged.
Nicholas Hayes sighed and decided not to worry about
those questions for the moment, the most immediate thing that needed to
be done was to make it up to the SDF-1 and be with her. He also wondered
what this Rick Hunter guy was like, were he and Lisa dating? Was
he Lisa's boyfriend? Surely after all they had been through together,
the POW incident, the Mars Base rescue, surely they had become close.
Hayes thought about it some more and realized that he already liked Rick
Hunter. The fact that he had saved Lisa's life a couple of times
made Hayes believe that Rick was a good, brave soldier, and he felt comforted
to know that Lisa had someone to look out for her when he himself couldn't.
Who knows, maybe Hunter might even become a son-in-law someday... Hayes
shrugged and scolded himself for thinking too far in advance and so he
shelved his thoughts and hurried to his quarters to get prepared for the
morning flight to the SDF-1.
* * * * * * *
Day 4
"Hey there Rick," said Roy cautiously as he entered
the locker room.
"Hi Roy," Rick said weakly.
"So...are you feeling ok about the flight?
If you have second thoughts then just go ahead and let me know and I can
cover for you," offered Roy.
Rick shook his head, "No, I'm fine Roy, thanks.
I just...I don't know what I'm going to say when I meet Admiral Hayes...
'Oh geez, by the way, I'm sorry I am the reason for your daughter being
seriously injured' ?"
Roy had expected this and decided to be more harsher
in his reply this time, in the hopes that he could get Rick to quit his
guilt-trip, so he pushed Rick up against the locker and stated, "Now enough
of this bull---t! I don't want to hear you say that again.
You had no control over what happened and didn't cause what happened either.
Now I don't want to hear you go on and on with this crap anymore.
Just get over it and concentrate on helping Lisa now instead of whining
over the past!"
Rick cowered a bit, he knew it was always a bad
thing to make Roy mad.
Roy let go of his grip on Rick's shirt and then
calmly added, "You better hurry up, you're suppose to depart in 10 minutes."
Rick finished his equipment check then followed
Roy out to the hanger. Before climbing into his plane, Rick looked
back at Roy and asked, "Could you...could you tell Lisa that I'm going
to pick up her father. I stopped by the hospital early this morning
and asked how she was doing but I didn't have the heart to go in and see
her. Could you tell her I'm sorry that I didn't come and see her
this morning, but when I get back, I'll come and see her."
Roy said he would and as he watched Rick close the
canopy he couldn't help but feel helpless and sad. Rick talked as
if Lisa were wide awake and would hear and understand everything Rick asked
him to tell Lisa, but the fact was that Jean had reported another 5 percent
decrease in neurological activity this morning. They didn't tell
Rick, because they didn't want to upset him before his flight and because
they just didn't have the heart to tell him the latest news.
"How are you doing out there Rick?" asked Sammie,
who was assisting as well as training for flight ops.
"I'm doing ok, I'm surprised it's so clear out here,"
replied Rick, wondering why there was no enemy movement.
"Yeah, well, shhhhh, don't knock on wood ok?" answered
Sammie, looking over her shoulder to check on a radar monitor.
Rick managed to crack a smile and said, "From the
looks of things, I should be at Alaska Base in about two hours. I'll
sign off for now and contact you if anything comes up."
"Sure thing, talk to you later," replied Sammie.
"Lieutenant Hunter, this is Alaska Base, you are
cleared to land on runway 17, over," said a male flight controller.
"Roger, prepared to land on runway 17, ETA 2 minutes,
Hunter out," replied Rick, trying to sound calm. He was feeling the
butterflies in his stomach and wondering if maybe he should've taken Roy
up on his offer to be the one pickup Admiral Hayes. 'What do I
do? Tell him now? Or later?' wondered Rick. 'Maybe everyone
is right, maybe it's not entirely my fault...'
Rick taxied his plane until it finally came to a
halt and then steered it towards the waiting hanger, stopping just outside
the entrance. He took several deep breaths to calm his nerves, then
did his post-flight instrument check and then disembarked from his VT.
As he stepped off the final rung of the ladder,
he turned around and saw a tall man, whom he instantly assumed was Lisa's
father, the man bearing a very strong resemblance to Lisa.
Rick saluted and said clearly, "Lieutenant Richard
Hunter reporting to pilot Admiral Hayes back to the SDF-1, sir!"
Hayes returned Rick's salute and said, "At ease
Lieutenant. Thank you for agreeing to be my pilot for this trip."
"It is my privilege and honor sir, thank you for
requesting me," replied Rick, a little bit surprised at Hayes' lack of
stuffiness.
Admiral Hayes nodded then motioned to several people
in the hanger who then brought out a couple of trunks and began to load
them into the cargo compartment of Rick's plane.
Admiral Hayes excused himself to give parting instructions
to some of is aides and as Hayes was conversing with his officers, Rick
waited near the ladder of his plane and observed.
From the looks of things, Rick estimated Admiral
Hayes to be in his early fifties, maybe even very late forties. He
had a full head of hair, the color being the same as Lisa's. He seemed
to be around six feet tall and solidly built, but not overweight by any
means and seemingly in good physical shape, save for what Rick thought
was the slightest trace of a limp.
After Admiral Hayes had finished his conversations
and his luggage was loaded up, he climbed into the co-pilot seat and fastened
the various safety harnesses, then waited for Rick.
"Is everything alright back there Admiral?" asked
Rick as he checked the instruments.
"Yes Lieutenant, everything is fine," replied Hayes
as he looked out the window.
"If you need anything, just let me know," answered
Rick, as he turned the plane towards the runway for takeoff.
The two made it back out into space without any incident.
Rick had asked Admiral Hayes about Alaska Base and Hayes had obliged Rick
by telling him all about the base and hoping that he didn't bore him with
too many details.
Admiral Hayes was feeling a bit tired, having suffered
from insomnia the entire night before, so he told Rick he would take a
short nap, since they still had aways to go before landing on the SDF-1.
Rick was relieved at the suggestion, not so much because he found Admiral
Hayes unpleasant, on the contrary, he thought he was a very interesting
person, but rather because Rick knew they were both avoiding the subject
of Lisa. And when they finally did address that topic, it would be
difficult for both of them.
Though he was exhausted, Admiral Hayes couldn't
fall asleep, so he decided to rest his eyes and listened to the intermittent
communications Rick had with the bridge. He noticed that Rick didn't
chit-chat much with the bridge crew, and was actually very quiet and downcast,
reminding him a bit of Lisa. He wondered how old Rick was, he thought
for sure Lisa was older than Rick but that didn't concern him very much.
He thought that Lisa and Rick made a nice couple, and secretly hoped that
were dating. 'Lisa needs a good, caring, protective man in her
life,' Admiral Hayes thought to himself, and as far as he was concerned,
Lieutenant Rick Hunter fit the bill.
to be continued.........
------------------------------
I'm still also working on my To the Stars chapter 21, that is only about
15% complete because I've been quite busy lately :(
and on that note...in fact, I need MORE Rick and Lisa stuff to read!!
Please people!! Hmm...I wonder if I threatened to only update my
stories only every other month if that will spur more people to write Rick
& Lisa stories.... probably not, but it's worth a try! Mwahahahahahaha!
Me so bad :) Who? Me kidding?? Nope! I'm serious!
:)
PLEASE WRITE YOUR RICK-LISA STORIES OR UPDATE THE ONES YOU ALREADY HAVE
ON HERE! :)
