part 1
Rick couldn't raise
anyone from flight control to receive directions as to where to go or what
to do next, so he set his VT down near the lake's edge, got out, and just
stared in frozen terror as he watched the scene before him. He was
only vaguely aware of the buring ruins of New Macross City that surrounded
him and for one of the few times in his life as a protector of the people,
he let himself think about his own problems first, before theirs.
He stared at the lake, in the center of it was a burning, sinking, mangled
SDF-1. The sentinel that had protected the people of Macross for
so long, like the city now, would not be rebuilt...would not be resurrected,
because resurrection was not possible this time.
Half of the lake was
on fire from the various oil spillages, despite that, Rick could see the
rescue crews trying to their best at trying to find survivors, if there
were any. The lake had already started to burn because of the demise
of the SDF-2, any survivors in the water trying to flee wouldn't have had
much a chance once Khyron's ship rammed into the SDF-1.
"Rick! Get out of here!
Khyron's going to ram us! Go!!" Rick had heard Lisa's warning but
didn't listen and had used up all his ammunition trying, in vain, to slow
down Khyron's fiery javelin of death. Rick could only fly away just
in the nick of time before the large initial explosion and he had just
narrowly escaped several concussion waves before Max and Miriya caught
up with him. "Don't worry Rick, the rescue crews will find them,"
said the ever-positive Max. "I hope you're right Max," Rick
mumbled with tear-filled eyes as he strained to see what kind of progress
the rescue crews were making.
"Rick!" someone called
from behind him. When he heard the voice he wasn't sure who it was,
a female's voice but his mind was in such a whirlwind at the moment that
the voice didn't register in his mind. His heart started to pound
as he turned around to see who it was.
Before him he saw Minmei
walking rapidly towards him. She ran the last few steps towards him
and hugged him, "I'm so glad you're safe Rick!" Rick stood motionless
in her embrace. Minmei immediately picked up on it and backed off,
"I'm sorry Rick, I... I'm just so happy you're alright." "That's
ok Minmei, thank you for your concern. How is everyone? Max, Lina, Jason?"
Minmei folded her hands and informed him that they were all fine and safe
in the shelters. Rick nodded then turned his attention back to the
lake. He could hear Minmei walk up to him once again and in a moment
heard her say, "I...I know they'll all be OK Rick, please let me know as
soon as you hear word about Lisa." Minmei turned to leave and had
taken a few steps when Rick shook out of his stupor and hastily said, "Minmei,
thank you for your concern. I'm glad you're alright. Remember, if you ever
need anything, don't hesitate to ask, alright? We are still friends."
Minmei was a little bit taken off guard and Rick was surprised to hear
himself utter the words as well. He figured it was probably the feeling
of guilt over dumping Minmei. Minmei smiled and waved as she turned
to make the walk back to the shelter.
The snow began to fall
and Rick had no time to think any further on any particular topic when
his radio chimed. He rushed to his VT and leaped into the cockpit
to see who was calling. "Rick! It's me Max. We have received orders
to go to the Harrison Airfield that's about 20 miles from here. They
have setup a makeshift air command station there. " "But what about
the rescue efforts here?" stammered Rick. "We need to refuel and re-arm
do we not Captain?" asked Miriya in her Zentraedi fashion. "Yes,
yes, Miriya" was all Rick could mutter back. Rick gave one sad glance
back at the lake of fire and proceeded to join Max and Miriya at the Harrison
Airfield. He had to join them, there was nothing he could do here
at the lake with no ammo and no fuel, but he vowed silently that he would
return the first instant he could.
* * * * * * *
"Kim!!" screamed Sammie.
Sammie was in the oil-saturated water, flailing her arms and trying to
stay afloat as best she could. "Kim!! Vanessa!! Claudia!! Lisa!!
Admiral Gloval!! Somebody answer me!!" Just then another wave enveloped
her but she quickly managed to keep her head above the surface, spitting
and sputtering out salt water that was mixed with slick, sticky oil.
Sammie didn't know what else to do and started to cry. "Sammie, now's
not the time to be crying!" Sammie's eyes widened and she flailed around
looking in all directions, trying to find out where the voice was coming
from. She didn't see anyone and let out a scream when Claudia popped
out of the water next to her. "Claudia!!!" Sammie started to cry
again and latched onto Claudia's neck with a near chokehold. "Calm
down! We're not safe and sound yet," said a slightly annoyed Claudia, "let's
swim around a bit and see if we can find the others."
The two women waded
around trying to avoid large oil slicks when, after about 10 min, they
came upon what looked like the wreckage of a boiler. They also saw
a pair of hands clinging to the wreckaged and Claudia called out, "Who's
there!? Hello!" They saw another pair of hands latch onto the wreckage
along side the first pair but didn't hear any noise, so Claudia and Sammie
swam around the wreckage to see who was clinging onto the other side.
When they got around the corner, they were relieved yet at the same time
shocked to see Kim and Vanessa, clinging onto the wreckage, almost completely
covered in oil. Vanessa coughed and choked and tried to speak but
Claudia told her to not try and talk for she appeared to have a head injury
as they could see blood dripping from her forehead. Kim, for the
most part, appeared to be in shock. Claudia instructed Sammie
to take care of Kim and Claudia herself took hold of Vanessa and the four
women waded through the water, away from the approaching flames.
The weary women had
been wading for some time when they suddenly heard the sound of helicopter
blades above them. All of them, including Kim, looked upward and
Sammie and Vanessa began to wave their arms wildly at the chopper.
Thankfully the chopper crew saw them and the rescuers swooped down to extract
the four tired women from the increasingly dangerous waters.
Once inside the chopper
their concern shifted to Kim. "Kim honey, what's wrong??" asked Claudia
with sisterly concern. Kim, wearing a blank stare, muttered, "Under
the water....dead....dead people...." The medic that was seated with
them said, "She probably saw some intense things under the water, it's
traumatized her. When we get back to the hospitals we have the psychiatrists
who will be able to promptly deal with this, don't worry, she will get
all the medical attention she needs." Claudia silently said
to herself, "I hope you're right." It must've taken quite a shock
to silence the always-vocal Kim. Claudia couldn't help but be a little
more than concerned at the moment.
* * * * * * *
Lisa opened her eyes
to semi-darkness and felt as if she were floating. She then felt
something soaking her feet and looked down and saw there was a leak in
the compartment she was in. She was disoriented and couldn't remember
how she got in the predicament she was currently in. Her survival
instincts kicked in immediately and she knew she had to find someway out
of the compartment that was slowly flooding. She pushed at
the door and it took several heavy pushes before the hatch finally popped
open but as the door flew open, so did Lisa fly with it and into the water.
The water instantly chilled her to the bone and she hurried back up to
the surface, gasping for air once she broke through. She looked around
and saw that she was in some sort of storage hold. She looked behind
her and saw light in the distance. She looked up at her surroundings
again and suddenly the location registered in her mind....... Prometheus!
Slowly, what had transpired
before she lost consciousness came back to her. They were going to
be rammed by Khyron and had to abandon ship. Kim and Vanessa were
in the first escape module out, then Sammie and Claudia, and lastly Lisa
and Admiral Gloval. As Lisa and Gloval's escape module wa about to
launch, the bridge was rocked by the concussion of an explosion several
floors below it. Gloval threw the eject switch but the module was
stuck as well as damaged. Before Lisa could shake off her horror,
Gloval exited the ejection module and closed the door behind him.
Lisa, wide-eyed with fear, started shouting his name and asking him what
he was doing. Gloval didn't reply and then Lisa started hearing and
feeling him kick the module, trying to dislodge it from where it was stuck.
Lisa had shouted in panic, "Admiral no!!", and was trying to open the door
to get out, but as she was fumbling with the door handle the module lurched
forward and she was thrown into the wall. As the module start to
accelerate she scrambled back to her seat to try and get the safety harness
and then that was the last thing she remembered.
Gloval had saved her
life and lost his in the process. She didn't want to hear the theory,
"the captain goes down with his ship", that wasn't suppose to apply to
Gloval. Admiral Henry J. Gloval had been more of a father to her
than her own flesh-and-blood father, Admiral Hayes, had been. The
thought of Gloval being dead just would not register in her mind.
She felt cold, as if she had been thrown into a freezer, she refused to
accept his death. Before she could do anymore dwelling on the subject,
she was reminded of her current environment as she heard the straining
of steel above her. Despite the frigid water, she managed to make
her way towards the opening in the wreckage and found herself alongside
one of the port's docking landings.
Lisa was not alone
as there were several dozen other survivors floundering in the water, waiting
for rescuers above to pluck them from the water. "Captain Hayes!"
someone shouted to her from topside. "Captain! Over here, we'll get
you out of there right now." the male voice was not familiar to her.
She looked up and didn't recognize the face either. As she started
to make her way towards the area where people were being taken out of the
water she noticed that most, if not all of them, were injured, whereas
she was unscathed save for a few bruises. She saw the male soldier
waiting for her to make her way and shouted to him, "I'll wait, get the
injured out of here first!" The soldier, a lieutenant from a Phalanx
squad it seemed, was stammering a protest about her being needed to immediately
fly to the new command center. She shouted back, "I appreciate it,
but I must repeat my order Lieutenant, please see to the injured first."
The Lieutenant looked at the rest of the people in the water and knew she
was right, so he turned his attention to those immediately within his reach.
"Captain, don't you
think it's imperative you get to a command center as soon as possible?
From the looks of things, it seems the top brass' location took a direct
hit, you might be our only high-rankers left...." She turned around to
see who it was that was speaking to her and saw it was a woman of the rank
of Commander from the MP division. Lisa looked at the woman as she
remembered Gloval's heroism and replied, "Admiral Gloval didn't put his
own life before his subordinates today, he put his subordinates lives before
his own. To not do the same as he has done today would be a disgrace
to his memory." Lisa said soberly, still in shock and denial over his death.
The commander looked at her with a fearful expression, "Captain...you don't
mean Admiral Gloval is...." Lisa didn't answer, couldn't answer, and just
turned away from the woman. The woman was keen enough to understand
that that was Lisa's reply. Knowing how close all the bridge crew
was to the Admiral, the woman offered a meek, "I'm sorry Captain..." and
then pressed on, "Captain...what about the others on the bridge?"
Lisa tried to steady her voice before replying, "They made it out before
me, I hope they are in better condition than we are." And as Lisa said
that she looked around her and the devestation she saw was just too much
for her to even begin comprehend. She breathed a silent prayer that
the other girls *were* much better off than she was at the moment.
* * * * * * *
At
Harrison Field, a makeshift triage was setup in one of the large conference
halls. Claudia and Sammie were sitting in near Vanessa who was resting
on a cot after having her head bandaged up. She was going to be alright
the medic said, but they were going to run a CATscan just to make sure.
On the other side of the great hall was the area for patients who were
in need of psychological attention. From where she was sitting,
Claudia could just barely see Kim. From the looks of it, Kim was
still in shock and not talking to anyone about anything. Claudia
breathed a silent prayer that Kim would be able to snap out of it, and
soon.
With the lack of commanding
officers around to keep an eye on what he was doing, Rick took the liberty
to rush over to the triage center while his VT was being refuled and repaired.
After many minutes of inquiring around, Rick managed to find his way to
Claudia, Sammie, and Vanessa. Rick's voice caught in his throat
as he caught site of the three women. Seeing them meant that the
bridge crew managed to escape in time. Claudia stood up as she saw
Rick hurry towards them and before he said anything he gave her a hug,
which surprised Claudia, since it was the first time since Roy's funeral
that they had hugged. Rick saw Vanessa's dazed look and bandaged
head and knelt down beside her and asked her if she was alright.
She had too much of a headache to say anything and just nodded her head,
but it did manage to register through the numbness, that Rick genuinely
looked very concerned for her.
Rick looked around
them and Claudia read his mind and replied before he could utter the main
concern he had, "We haven't seen her yet Rick." Claudia tried her
best to not sound worried but that didn't stop Rick from worrying.
"I have to find her!....I...." Rick stopped and looked around him again,
then looked at Sammie and Vanessa and his mouth dropped open and his eyes
grew wider before he could finally get out, "Kim!" Claudia put a
calming hand on his shoulder and pointed in the direction of where Kim
was currently being treated. Sammie said quietly, as if trying to
keep a secret, "She's in shock, she hasn't said one word since we've been
here," then Sammie began to sniffle, "I'm so worried about her..."
Rick cast a worried glance in Kim's direction then looked around him again.
Just then a paramedic was passing by and Rick grabbed him by the arm and
asked him, almost as a plea, "Have you seen Captain Hayes?!" The
man said, "I havent' seen her Captain, I'm sorry." and went on his
way. Rick ran his hand through his hair and let out an exasperated
sound and then said, "SOMEONE must've seen her by now!" he started to pace
around and then the three of them heard a small cry escape from Vanessa.
Claudia moved to her side and asked her if she were in pain and needed
the doctors attention but Vanessa nodded in the negative and Sammie and
Claudia were trying to get her to tell them what she was crying about.
Rick went to her side as well and worriedly looked her in the eyes and
asked her what was wrong, she turned away from him without a reply and
Rick grew even more worried, "Vanessa, is it about Lisa? Vanessa!"
Rick was now extremely worried, his heart was racing and an equally alarmed
Claudia asked Vanessa, "Vanessa please tell us if you know something about
Lisa and Admiral Gloval, they might need our help, if you know something
you have to tell us, please!"
Vanessa was now completely
in tears and tried to compose herself and speak despite the terribly painful
headache she was also enduring. She looked at Rick and felt her courage
starting to fail her until Claudia said her name, firmly, but not sternly.
Vanessa sniffled then started, "Their escape module....I saw it as Sammie's
and mine were leaving the chutes....it...it..." Vanessa started crying
again and Rick was now terrified and nearly shook her out of her bed had
not Claudia restrained him. She continued after taking several minutes
to get up the strength to speak again, "....it was damaged." Claudia
felt a chill rush through her entire body and asked tonelessly, "What do
you mean damaged?" Vanessa looked from one to the other and then
said, "one of the beams had fallen across the chute pathway, I....if they
were to make it down the chute, someone would've had to remove the beam
manually because I don't think the escape module had enough power to break
through it on its own...."
Everyone sat motionless
for what seemed like an eternity. Rick looked as if he hadn't heard
a word Vanessa had said but was just frozen in place. Claudia seemed
to be analyzing the escape module situtation and Sammie had started to
cry again. Suddenly Rick nearly shouted, "I have to find her! I have
to find Lisa!" and then he took off running towards the airstrip.
No one tried to stop him, because they knew if there was one person who
could find and rescue Lisa, it was Rick.
Rick's mind was in
total chaos, he couldn't think of anything but finding Lisa. When
Max and Miriya spoke to him as he was readying his VT for takeoff, it was
as if he hadn't heard a word they said. Max was desperately trying
to get Rick's attention but to no avail.
Max had seen Rick this
way before, like during the Minmei rescue from Khyron, but at that time
he had still managed to get replies from Rick. This time Rick seemed
totally unaware of anyone and everything around him. Max didn't press
the issue because he knew that it if were Miriya in danger, he would be
the same way. Max relayed to his wife that they were going to escort
Rick and keep an eye on him.
* * * * * * *
By the time Lisa had
finally been pulled out of the water, she was shivering so much her teeth
were chattering and she wasn't feeling well. The lieutenant that
had spoken to her earlier wrapped her in a blanket and escorted her to
a waiting military jeep. "Get her to the new command post ASAP,"
he ordered the driver. With that the driver sped off.
Lisa felt increasingly
dizzy as the jeep headed towards its destination and the driver, noticing
her slightly swaying where she sat, inquired if she were ok. Lisa
began to answer that she was when everything went black and she lost consciousness
and started to fall towards where a door would normally be. The driver,
quick as lightning, held the wheel with his left hand and grabbed Lisa
with his right and pulled her securely into the car. He radioed
ahead and told them that he thought Captain Hayes was injured and that
a medical team should be standing by for his arrival. He put
switched off the radio, gave Lisa one more look to make sure she was securly
in the car, then floored the gas pedal.
When the driver got
to the command post, the medical team rushed in collected Lisa and then
rushed into the building. The temporary command post was about 5
miles from Harrison Field. The command post was separated from the
airfield because Harrison Field had the better capacity to treat those
in need of medical attention and would be full to the gills with injured
and could not spare anymore room, not even for a command post.
General Maistroff had
been present when Lisa was brought in for medical attention and he had
come back an hour later to check on her progress. With more than
half of the high-ranking officers killed or wounded, they were in desperate
need of intelligent and capable officers. Maistroff, upon consultation
with the only remaining high-rankers, was instructed to promote Lisa on
the spot, from Captain to Admiral, effective immediately. Thirty
minutes prior, Maistroff had ordered one of his aides to scare up someone
in the uniform office and have them come up with Lisa's new Admiral's uniform.
Black would be the base color, since it was the standard color for Admirals'
uniforms, but there was a loss as to what the trim color would be.
General Reinhardt had said matter-of-factly, "Emerald green, just like
her eyes." The three officers that were present, Maistroff included,
looked at Reinhardt strangely and he just answered them with a simple,
"Is there a problem?" None of the men answered him and just turned
to leave to do their various duties. Maistroff took a moment to reflect
on the oddity of it all and decided he had more important things to ponder
at the present time.
The doctor came out
of Lisa's room and told Maistroff, "She will be fine sir, she just has
a slight case of hypothermia, nothing serious. She should be on her
feet within a few hours." Maistroff just grunted his acknowledgement
and entered Lisa's room as the doctor left to tend to other patients.
When Maistroff entered
the room Lisa sat up straight and then tried to get out of bed, Maistroff
stopped her by holding up his hand and saying in a somewhat flat tone,
"No need for a salute now Hayes, save your strength because you're going
to need it with all the work coming up." Lisa wasn't bothered by
Maistroff's lack of bedside manner, knowing as well as everyone on the
base, that Maistroff was one of the least liked officers in the ranks.
Maistroff didn't waste
time and told Lisa, "Captain Hayes, in the wake of all the losses in the
chain of command, the other high-ranking officers and I have decided to
promote you to the rank of Admiral. Effective immediately. Your new
uniforms will be ready in a couple of hours and you will be appointed an
aide, to be chosen at your discretion. The doctor said you should
be well enough to be released in a few hours, so when you are released
we expect to see you at the command post, we have a huge job ahead of us."
With that, Maistroff left her room.
Lisa sat there, trying
to process what Maistroff had just gruffly told her, let some time go by
before it sank in. She thought more of Maistroff's insensitivity
more than her promotion and could feel herself growing angrier by the minute.
Despite her knowing of Maistroff's abrasiveness, she slowly started to
let it bother her. There was no, "I hope you are unhurt," "I am so
sorry about Admiral Gloval", "Is there something I can do for you?" none
of it. Instead, the stuffed shirt had marched into her room and ordered
her to get herself out of her hospital bed as soon as possible and take
charge, as if this were just any other day. Lisa angrily shook her
head and slowly got up from her bed and tried to take a few turns around
the room to try and get her sense of balance back. She walked over
to the phone and found that it wasn't working, then she looked around the
room for her cellphone but that was gone too. So much for trying
to find out how her friends were. She had no other choice but to
sit and wait for her uniforms to arrive because she surely go out in her
hospital gown.
* * * * * * *
Rick set his VT down
a few hundred feet from where Lisa had been pulled out of the water a couple
of hours earlier. The Skull squadron had been ordered to patrol for
any leftover renegade Zendtraedi so Rick had been delayed in his search
for Lisa. By this time, all the survivors that had been wading in
the waters like Lisa, had been transported to either the hospitals
or Harrison Field and there was no one left on the docks.
Rick was pacing back
and forth wondering what to do next when he saw a jeep driving by.
He flagged it down and asked the driver about Lisa. The driver had
been the same one that had driven her to the command post and so told Rick
exactly where to find Lisa. Rick asked the driver if he could take
him there and the driver readily agreed. Rick took a few moments
to secure his VT then jumped in the jeep as the driver burned rubber out
of the docks.
As they sped towards
the command post, Rick grilled the driver as to Lisa's condition, her appearance,
her injuries, and everything else he could think of. The driver for
his part, knowing of the Hayes-Hunter soap opera, thought to be a bit nosey
and asked Rick, "Excuse me for saying Captain but I am a bit surprised
you're so concerned for the Captain, I thought you couldn't stand her."
The driver knew he was out of line but took his chances. Upon hearing
the driver's words, Rick flinched as if he had been smacked across the
face but didn't answer.
Rick became lost in
his thoughts, reliving the day's events: Lisa coming to his house to say
goodbye, telling him her true feelings, running away from him, finding
her laying in the street as the buildings around her crumbled and burned,
watching the SDF-2 take a direct hit, hearing her voice coming from the
SDF-1 bridge, hearing her scream at him to leave as Khyron was preparing
to plow into the SDF-1, the collision between the SDF-1 and Khyron's ship,
the destruction of both ships, the fear that gripped him in the moments
that followed when he didn't know if Lisa were alive or dead, hearing the
news that she was alive. All these played in his mind in a jumble
that he didn't even notice the jeep had stopped. "We're here now
Captain, " announced the driver. Rick shook out of his thoughts and
thanked the driver as he jumped out of the jeep. Then as he started
looking for someone that could direct him towards Lisa.
Rick found someone
who gave him directions as to where to find Lisa and as he walked towards
her room his mind and emotions were in complete shambles. Never had
he felt so sad and happy at the same time. For all his confusion,
one thing Rick was sure of, he wanted nothing more than to hold Lisa in
his arms.
Rick's reunion with
Lisa was delayed some 15 minutes due to wrong turns and stopping to ask
for the correct directions to her room, but finally, Rick opened the door
to her room without knocking. Lisa, finishing buttoning her new Admiral's
uniform jacket, was surprised to see Rick in front of her. With all
that had been going on, the loss of Gloval and her new responsiblities
as Admiral, she hadn't had time to dwell on the situation with Rick.
Now that Rick was standing
in front of her, Lisa was not sure what to think. She was afraid
that Rick had come to the realization that his confession to her was made
in haste and that he had come back to tell her that he was going back to
Minmei. But his next action dispelled all her fears.
To her great surprise,
and relief, Rick walked quickly up to her without saying a word and held
on to her tightly and said, "Lisa! I'm so glad I found you, I was so scared..."
and squeezed her even tighter to the point where it was a bit of a struggle
for her to breathe. Rick just concentrated on the feel of her as
he held her. The last time he had hugged her was when he had rescued
her from Alaska Base but it had been such a quick hug that he didn't remember
what it had felt like. Now that he had her here in his arms, he held
on tightly, relishing every second of it. One sentence kept playing
in his head as he held her, "I love you, I always have...and I always will!"
Rick's mind was a shambles, tormented by both guilt and sadness and blessed
by relief and love. Lisa was nearly gonna faint from lack of oxygen
and, confused herself, pushed out of his embrace instead of thinking to
verbally tell him he was holding her too tightly. The action scared
and surprised Rick at the same time and when Lisa saw the look on his face
she rushed to explain her actions lest he should turn around and run out
the door.
"Rick, I'm sorry, I
couldn't breathe, you were squeezing me too tightly," and with that Lisa
stepped to him and hugged him to reassure him that there was nothing to
apologize for. Rick, greatly relieved, held onto her very gently.
Lisa couldn't believe she was being hugged by Rick. After all the
years of longing and frustration, perhaps this was all just one big dream,
she had thought to herself. She let herself relax in his arms, resting
her head on his strong shoulder, afraid to say anything for fear
he might leave her. Lisa didn't have time to dwell any further
on anything because someone had just come into the room, without knocking,
"Admiral Hayes....oh....I'm sorry for interrupting."
It was the same aide
that had given Lisa her new uniform earlier. The aide, a woman about
Rick's age looked genuinely sorry for interrupting their heartwarming embrace,
most likely having had heard about the Hayes-Hunter saga, because, who
hadn't? Well, only Rick Hunter of course. "It's alright Lieutenant.
What is it?" The Lieutenant stated that Maistroff wanted Lisa back at the
command post but then she added, "I'll tell him you'll be there in half
an hour." Even though the command post was only 10 minutes away.
Rick caught onto the Lieutenant's intentions and smiled broadly and thanked
her. The Lieutenant looked like she were proud of herself and left
the room but not before winking at Rick and Lisa. All of a sudden
Rick finally noticed that Lisa had a different uniform on and remembered
how the Lieutenant had addressed Lisa. "Admiral?!"
Lisa wasn't initially
sure if Rick was happy or upset at the realization. She looked at
him shyly, trying to hide her pride, "I..uh.. with the loss of many of
the high-ranking officers...they promoted me to Admiral...." remembering
the loss of Gloval made the tears well up. Out of a longstanding
habit, Lisa turned away from him to try and hide her tears, and took a
deep breath to try and keep from crying out loud. Rick said quietly,
"Gloval...." and he saw Lisa nod her head, "...He saved my life... he was
like a second father to me, and now he's gone..." Lisa let out a sniffle
and heard Rick approach her and waited to see what he would do.
Rick still needed a
lot of time to get used to the idea that he and Lisa were now a couple,
after knowing each other for so long and going through so much together,
their relationship had finally changed from being friends to being much
more than friends. Though he was still a bit scared of the idea,
he didn't have any regrets. When he had spoken to Minmei at the lake,
he knew that they weren't meant to be together, they were too different
with different priorities. In fact, Rick had come to that realization
before seeing Minmei at the lake and even before Minmei suggested they
get married. Now, looking at the woman who he had been through so
much with, the woman who had always stayed by his side and listened to
him whenever he needed someone to just listen and not judge him or turn
the conversation towards themselves as Minmei had so often had, he felt
an overwhelming feeling of wanting to protect her and show her how much
he appreciated her and how much he cared for her. These were all
new feelings for him, as well as the feelings of guilt and shame.
How many times had Lisa been there for him when he needed her yet he most
often then not, couldn't see that she needed him. How many times,
too numerous to count really, had he gone to Lisa's place to rant on about
Minmei, when all the while Lisa had been in love with him. Rick knew
that he couldn't stand it when Minmei talked about Kyle, now he couldn't
even begin to imagine what it must've been like for Lisa to hear him talk
about Minmei day after day, month after month, year after year.
Lisa was half absorbed
in her grief for Gloval and also half conscious with wonder over how Rick
was going to respond to her moment of grief. In the past, when she
showed her grief to him, the last time being when they were trapped together
during a Transformation, a very long time ago, he had offered her a handkerchief,
but that was alright with her, she surely didn't expect him to comfort
her with a hug at that time. Now she wondered if Rick would keep
a careful, hands off approach towards her for awhile or if he'd try and
make up for lost time, which she was secretly hoping he would. She
remembered how he had hugged her several minutes earlier and was hoping
he would do so again. After a few more seconds of wondering, several
which seems to feel like years, she finally got her wish.
Rick came over to her
and wrapped his arms around her from behind and buried his face against
her neck and whispered quietly, "Go ahead Lisa, let it out, it's ok."
The moment was bittersweet
for Lisa, she was devastated by the loss of her second father, yet at the
same time she was relishing being in Rick's arms. Perhaps, she thought,
Gloval was smiling down on them from somewhere up above. She let
herself cry, quietly, not wanting to make a scene since they were still
in a public place technically. She tried to keep her grief bottled
up, push it out of her mind for the moment, until she was in the private,
alone with Rick, just the two of them, to finally let out all of her pain.
So, she focused on Rick. His arms were strong, yet gentle at the
same time, and his hair was soft against her face. She let her hands
rest on his warm hands and she let herself stay like that with him, letting
her self cry and sniffle quietly. Finally, after several minutes
of just letting herself cry and be held by Rick, she thought she was ready
to get back to her duty. However, though unintentionally, or rather
maybe perhaps subconsciously, Lisa leaned her head back a bit and sighed.
Rick hadn't been thinking
of anything except Lisa as he held her. His mind had been replaying
the long soap opera that they had shared as well as how natural and good
it felt to hold her in his arms. He remembered back to just recently
when he had held Minmei in his arms. The feeling wasn't the same.
At the time it had seemed as if his dreams had been realized, he finally
had Minmei's attention and love, but it just didn't feel right. He
couldn't bring himself to relax and relish it, it was as if there was something
or someone haunting him, and there was, Lisa.
He remembered one time,
a couple of days before New Year's Eve, after dinner he and Minmei danced
to a few songs. The first couple songs were dance tunes, medium-paced
type of songs, but the third song was a slow dance song. From the
start, it didn't feel right. Minmei laid her head on his shoulder
as they danced but to Rick there was something wrong with the picture.
He didn't feel happy like he thought he should have. That nagging
feeling was so overwhelming to the point that it was annoying. What
was it? he just couldn't put his finger on it. Then he looked across
the room at the framed poster of a Stealth bomber flying through the clouds.
It was a gift Lisa had given to him, just out of the blue. She had
come over one day, a few months after the reconstruction had begun, and
had brought along a present with her, the first of many presents she had
bought him. Lisa understood him, more than Minmei ever could, and
then at that moment it flashed into his mind that it was Lisa who was dancing
with him instead of Minmei. He heard Lisa's light laugh in his ear.
It was a laugh he didn't get to hear often but he had heard it enough to
know what it was suppose to sound like. Then he heard her sigh.
He had heard that plenty of times and when his mind wasn't occupied at
the time he heard it, it made his heart beat just a little bit faster.
These two imagined sounds, coupled together, made Rick stop in his tracks.
"Rick, is something wrong?" Minmei's voice brought him out of his imaginings,
"Uhh, no Minmei, I'm fine." Minmei giggled and chirped, "Oh, you
silly guy!" and resumed their dance. Rick stared at the poster again
and imagined seeing Lisa standing in front of it, giving him the same,
slow, shy smile that she had when they first hung up the poster, and then
she faded from sight.
Back in the present,
Rick picked up on Lisa's movement and his mouth had fallen squarely onto
her neck when she had moved. Now, he couldn't stop himself, nor did
he want to stop himself, from kissing Lisa on the neck. Lisa was
in shock, she still had not been convinced that this visit from Rick was
all just a dream. Had she actually died on the SDF-1 and gone to
heaven? Just now Rick had kissed her, without having been ordered
to do so. Lisa's mind and heart were racing. Surely she thought,
she must've died and that this was just a big dream. But it wasn't
a dream, it was real and Rick kissed her again, this time just under her
jawline. Lisa was glad Rick was holding her or else she might have
fainted. When Lisa sighed again, Rick thought he was going to faint.
Suddenly they heard two short and rapid knocks on the door then the sound
of the door opening. They turned together to see who it was that
had interrupted them.
In the doorway stood
Sammie, wearing a new uniform, similar to Lisa's old one, but instead the
turtleneck shirt was teal-colored and the uniform trim was black.
The stripes indicated that she was now a Captain, she had been promoted.
Small as she was, Sammie presented a new, confident look in her new uniform.
However there was no mistaking the look of shock on her face when she saw
her superiors, her friends, in a loving embrace. Sammie stood there
staring at them, still too surprised to utter a word. Lisa didn't
rush to step out of her embrace with Rick and was disappointed when he
stepped away from her, she wanted to stay in his arms for however long
they could and just forget the destruction that was around them.
"I....I....uh..." Sammie
was still too surprised to put her sentence together and when she finally
realized that Lisa was wearing an Admiral's uniform, Sammie's military
training brought her out of her stupor and she snapped a salute and said
clearly and loudly, "Admiral! Captain Samantha Porter, Air Logistics Chief
Officer reporting for duty ma'am, Central Command requests your presence
in conference room 3 at once." Rick and Lisa stared at her in surprise,
and Lisa had an amused smile on her face as she asked, "Sammie....where
did that come from?" Sammie blushed, she had not unnecessarily addressed
Lisa formally for several years now, their strong friendship, dispelling
the need for that. "I...I don't know Lisa..." answered a slightly
embarrassed Sammie. Lisa laughed and said, "Show off!" teasingly.
Rick and Lisa gave congratulatory hugs to Sammie. It was the first
time Rick and Sammie had ever hugged and after Rick released Sammie, she
said dreamily, "Wow....no wonder why Lisa fell in love with you...."
Rick and Lisa looked at each other, sharing a smile, as Lisa blushed slightly.
"Oh, Rick, they want you to attend the meeting too," said Sammie, finally
shaken out of her daydream. Rick bowed gentlemanlike and then opened
the door for them, "Shall we go ladies?" Sammie and Lisa left the
room with Rick following closely behind him.
A few paces down the
hall Sammie could no longer contain herself and shook Lisa by the arm,
"Lisa!! Is it true?? Did I see what I thougth I saw just now?? Are you
and Rick...." Sammie was cut off by Rick, "Yes we are Sammie," said Rick
with a smile and a touch of pride in his voice. Lisa still couldn't
believe it and she returned a happy, tearful smile as they continued down
the hall. "Finally!!" shouted Sammie. Lisa gave her a sidelong
glance and, "Sammie," warningly. Sammie knew what that meant, in other
words, "Don't go yacking the gossip all over the base." "Oops, I'm
sorry Lisa." said Sammie with an apologetic and innocent look on her face.
Lisa saw that Sammie wouldn't cause any harm and turned her thoughts to
duty as they continued towards the conference room, Sammie filling Lisa
in on the news about Claudia, Vanessa, and Kim.
* * * * * * *
General Maistroff had
rambled on for about twenty minutes, talking about procedures on how to
perform mass evacuations, how to work with local authorities, and other
topics that the officers present already knew how to do well, because it
had been done several times before. Finally, General Reinhardt had
had enough, "Thank you General Maistroff, I believe the officers present
are now very informed of what needs to be done." With that he folded
his hands on the table and proceeded onto the subject of duty assignments.
"As everyone is aware by now, we are saddened by the loss of Admiral Gloval...."
Lisa felt a knot in her stomach and the tears start to well up. Rick
looked at her and saw her emotions start to bubble up and reached under
the table and held her hand. Lisa was surprised but instantly felt
comforted by the gesture. Reinhardt continued, "...and we have lost
several top officers as well, thus the need to fill those ranks immediately,
so that we may relocate and rebuild as quickly as possible. Therefore
the following promotions have been given and now the specific duties will
be assigned, all are effective immediately."
"Captain Elizabeth
Hayes, promoted to Admiral. Duties will include, supervision of the
construction of the SDF-3." Lisa, Rick, Claudia, and Sammie gasped
at the announcement. It had been not more than 8 hours since the
SDF-2 had gone to its grave before even making a test flight, and now they
were already talking of an SDF-3. Lisa didn't know what to feel,
the thought of another SDF being built so soon after so much destruction
and loss had just taken place overwhelmed her and she absolutely had no
emotion regarding the matter. Rick looked at her and knew that she
was confused, as would anyone else be.
Reinhardt continued,
"Commander Claudia Grant, promoted to Captain. Duties will include,
supervision of the relocation of the residents of New Macross to Monument
City, in partnership with General Mark Stuart of the Army Defense Forces."
Claudia sat quietly as everyone looked at her for a reaction. Her
job was probably the most difficult but if anyone could do the job, and
do it well, it was Claudia Grant. Her interpersonal and public relations
skills were the best in the RDF and she had everyone's respect.
"Lt. Commander Samantha
Porter, promoted to Captain. Duties will include, Chief Officer of
Air Logistics. We have confidence in your ability to handle the job,
Captain Porter. You have proven that ability many times, we know
you will do your job well." Sammie stood up and snapped a proud salute,
"I will not let you down General!" Everyone looked at Sammie and
saw that she had grown into her own skin finally. Despite her shaky
start as Lisa's backup on the SDF-1, it didn't take Sammie very long for
her to become nearly as good an air controller as Lisa was. As Sammie's
skill developed, so did her confidence in herself. There were no
more jokes by the pilots about Sammie having them fly into each other,
she had now justifiably earned the pilots respect, something she was proud
of and worked hard to maintain.
"Lt. Commander Vanessa
Leeds, promoted to Captain. Duties will include, under the direction
of General O'Brien, Chief Officer of Radar and Telemetry." Upon hearing
the news via a video conference link to her hospital room, Vanessa was
surprised at the assignment, she always knew she did her job well, but
didn't ever think she was really anything special. Even though Lisa,
Claudia, Gloval, and O'Brien had told her she was the best Radar specialist
in the RDF.
Reinhardt read off
several more promotions and assignments and had finished the pilot promotions
and assignments and much to Rick's great relief, he wasn't promoted nor
assigned anything new. Lisa caught Rick sighing with relief and felt
a wave of disappointment. She knew he was capable of handling any
new assignment that was given to him. She felt that Rick being passed
over for reassignments and promotion was a slight to Rick's leadership
capabilities. She realized that she was angry about the situation,
but then it dawned on her that Rick was happy he wasn't going to be doing
anything but fly. She suddenly had a bad feeling. She thought
Rick could be so much more than just a regular pilot, but she saw he was
quite comfortable with that role. How was she going to convince him
otherwise? She knew that, as stubborn as they both were, this was
going to be an issue in their relationship and would most likely cause
problems.
"As for Lieutenant
Kimberly Young, I believe we need to wait and see what her mental status
is before we can make any determination as to where to assign her, but,
honestly speaking Admiral Hayes, we were at a loss as to where to put her.
Perhaps you have some suggestions?"
Lisa thought about
it, Kim didn't particularly have one speciality that she excelled at like
Vanessa or Sammie had. Kim was a Jack-Of-All-Trades and not by of
her own choosing and it was Lisa's notion that Kim's constant back-talking
to Maistroff might have had something to do with her stagnation in the
ranks. Maistroff was a pompous windbag who only had his own intentions
of power to look out for and he'd raise hell for anyone that got in his
way or made him look foolish. Kim had made him look foolish nearly
a dozen times during meetings and the scowl on his face each time it happened
was all one needed as proof of his disdain for her. "Sir, it was
said that the choice of my aide would be left to my discretion correct?"
asked Lisa. "Yes that is true Admiral." answered Reinhardt, already
knowing what she was about to propose. Lisa stole a glance at Maistroff,
who already had a frown on his face, "Sir, I would like to appoint Lieutenant
Young as my aide. I think that since she and I have worked together
for so long, it is a logical choice. However, I would need to have
her rank as a Commander, so that way she may carry out certain functions
I would most likely need her to do for me." Maistroff let loose a
small growl and everyone at the table stared at him, so he tried to cover
it up by pretending to cough and clear his throat." "Craphead!" Lisa
thought to herself as she watched Maistroff's pathetic cover-up.
Reinhardt called for anyone who objected to speak up and no one dared speak
up so it was formalized that Kim would be promoted to Commander and become
Lisa's aide.
"Now as to the question
of housing arrangements, if you'll please speak to Lieutenant Montgomery
before you leave the conference room, she will set you up with the arrangements."
With that, Reinhardt adjourned the meeting and those who hadn't set up
housing arrangements yet went over to speak to Montgomery.
Claudia wasn't standing
in line having already managed to squeeze in as the fifth person in a house
she would share with her brother and sister-in-law, Vince and Jean Grant
and their son Bowie, and Max, Miriya, and Dana Sterling. "Claudia,
how are you going to manage to sleep in a house with two kids?!" wondered
Sammie. "Well Sammie, the house is pretty big so at least it's not
cramped quarters and I am always willingly on-call to babysit my nephew,
so to not have to walk or drive far to get to him is surely a nice convenience."
Ahead of Rick, Lisa,
and Sammie was an officer, who looked to be around his early 40's, who
was rather getting upset at Montgomery. "I'm sorry Commander but
there are only two of those houses left and those are reserved for higher-ranking
officers." "But I have 4 teenage kids, there's no way I can squeeze them
and my wife into a shared apartment." Then another person spoke up,
this time a woman, "My husband and I just got married, we would very much
like to have an apartment of our own." Montgomery was looking haggard
and overwhelmed as Rick, Lisa, and Sammie moved closer towards the commotion.
"What's the problem
Lieutenant," asked Lisa in a tone that showed she was sympathetic towards
Montgomery's stress. "I'm very sorry for the holdup Admiral, it's
just there's too many people and not enough housing, I'm trying to accommodate
everyone as best as I can with the limited resources I have." Sammie stepped
up to the table and took the sign up and assignment sheets. There
were only 3 dwellings left. One large one, which already had Lisa's
name on it. It was large enough to accomodate five people.
The other large dwelling was almost identical to the one with Lisa's name
on it and had the names of the Trio on it. Then there was a small
apartment. Doing quick mental calculation, Sammie found that there
didn't seem to be any housing left for Rick. A sly smile formed across
her face as she exclaimed, "I think I've solved everyone's problems!"
She smiled at everyone, noticing their skeptical looks. But Sammie
remained proud and continued, "See look at the list, Lieutenant Gordon
and his family can move into this large house here, it holds 5 people.
Then Lieutenant Stevens can move into the apartment with her husband, and
me, Kim, Vanessa, Lisa, and Rick can take the last big house! It works
perfectly! That's if you don't mind Lisa. The other big house is
suppose to be yours..." Lisa waved her hand dismissively, "Your plan
is perfect Sammie, I don't need such a large house all to myself anyways.
Lieutenant Gordon you and your family are more than welcome to take it."
Gordon and Stevens were ecstatic and thanked Lisa wholeheartedly.
Montgomery looked completely exhausted but completely relieved.
As everyone left the
room to head towards their old quarters to collect their possessions among
the increasingly dangerous rising radiation levels, Claudia pulled Sammie
off to the corner and pointed her finger at her, "You did that on purpose
didn't you?!" Sammie beamed proudly, "I sure did! And just you wait to
see the look on their faces when I hand out the room arrangements. There's
only 2 large bedrooms, so Kim and Vanessa and I will have to try and squeeze
our twin beds in one room, the largest room of course, and Rick and Lisa
will have to share the other room, and Montgomery just told me that the
heating in the house isn't working at the moment!!!" Claudia slapped her
own forehead, as she often did many hundreds of when hearing of Sammie's
shananigans, smiled, and groaned, "Girl, you ARE such a bad child."
Sammie beamed proudly and said matter-of-factly, "I know!"
* * * * * * *
It was near midnight
when Lisa managed to arrive at the hospital to check on Kim and Vanessa.
She had spent a good many hours alternating between helping out Claudia
and Sammie with their various duties. With her primary assignment,
the SDF-3, not even looking like it was going to start its early stages
for some time until after the relocations were complete, Lisa felt rather
awkward at the moment with her old duties stripped from her. She
felt like a as if she weren't doing enough, and started to wish that they
had designated a specific role for her to occupy during this immediate
need. However, this perhaps was not as bad as she thought initially,
now she had some discretion as to how and where she could work without
anyone really objecting. So she decided that tommorrow she would
continue to assist Claudia, since her duties were more of a dire importance.
Sammie seemed to have been able to handle her duties today without too
much chaos so Lisa didn't feel quite that guilty leaving her alone.
Lisa saw Sammie sitting
in the waiting room and went over to take a seat. "Well, Vanessa
should be out of here in about 4 days, but Kim will need more time.
The doctors say they've been making progress with her." Lisa was
a bit perplexed, they all had seen death before, especially Sammie and
Kim, who had had to watch people die right in front of their eyes on their
monitors. What was it that had shocked Kim so badly she wondered.
"They said that they think she has a mental block, and that once she breaks
it, she will be ok. But they couldn't give me an estimate of how
long that could be." said Sammie disheartened. "Can I see Kim and
Vanessa?" asked Lisa. Sammie shook her head, "I don't think so, the
nurses kicked me out about an hour ago. I was waiting for you though,
maybe if you asked them they would let you see them, since you're an Admiral
now." Lisa decided that she needed to see her friends before she
could get any rest and walked up to the nurses station to see if they would
let her see Vanessa. Kim was in another nursing unit a few floors
above them so they would visit her after visiting Vanessa.
Lisa had no problem
getting permission from the nurses to see Vanessa and as she peeked through
the door she saw that Vanessa was sound asleep, so not wanting to wake
her, she quietly closed the door and went back to the waiting room.
Lisa managed to speak
to the one of Kim's doctors and he gave her permission to look in on Kim.
When she opened the door she found Kim to be apparently sleeping.
She walked closer to Kim's bed and looked at her more carefully.
In the darkness she couldn't tell if Kim were awake or asleep so she decided
to leave the room so that she wouldn't wake Kim up if she had happened
to be asleep. The doctor held the door open for Lisa and they both
stepped out into the hall and were slowly walking back towards the nurses
station when they heard a scream come from Kim's room.
Lisa, the doctor, a
nurse, and Sammie ran back to Kim's room and rushed inside to find her
huddled on her bed crying. The doctor gave some encouraging news,
"She's broken the mental block!" Sammie rushed to her best friend,
and tried to console her. Kim held onto her and uttered the word,
"Gloval," through her sobs. "Admiral Gloval is dead, I saw him under
the water...." So that's what had shocked Kim, Lisa realized.
She was relieved that Kim was past her mental block, but now there still
left a lot of sessions with the psychologists to get her back to the person
she was. Hopefully Kim's spirit and the support from her close friends
would make Kim's recovery swift.
After spending about
an hour with Kim, Sammie and Lisa wearily headed back towards their new
home. They were both dead on their feet and were looking forward
to dropping onto the couch the minute they walked through the door, but
when they got through the doorway, they saw Rick sprawled on the couch,
fast asleep. He had offered to move everyone's belongings to the
new house, since he wasn't in immediate need for patrols, the numerous
trips back and forth by car, in heavy traffic, had wiped out his energy
completely.
Sammie stood there
gawking at Rick. He was wearing a white muscle shirt and regular
blue jeans and his hair was tossed away from his eyes revealing his strong
brow that accented his already handsome features. Sammie grabbed
Lisa's arm and whispered, "Lisa! He's so gorgeous! I never really knew
how gorgeous he was. Oh you're so lucky! I'm so happy for you!" Lisa
gave her friend a hug and Sammie told her that she was going upstairs to
take a long hot bath.
Lisa went to check
out her room and when she came back Rick was still asleep and probably
would stay on the couch until he awoke in the morning so she went back
and got him a couple of blankets and covered him up and then headed towards
the second bathroom that was located on the lower level to take a hot shower.
Thank goodness, she thought to herself, that there were 2 bathrooms in
the house because knowing the Terrible Trio, they would hog up one bathroom
for several hours of the day.
Lisa felt refreshed
and relaxed from her shower and checked on Rick one more time before going
upstairs to her room. She wanted to talk to him and hold him, but
she knew how tired he was so she let him continue sleeping and hoped that
he was still there in the morning, hoping that he wouldn't get up in the
middle of the night and leave and head back into Minmei's arms.
As Lisa pulled the
covers over her shoulders she thought of all that had happened that day
but felt herself drifting of to sleep almost immediately.
* * * * * * *
Notes:
1. Yes, as you noticed I changed the ending
of To the Stars a bit, just to make it more dramatic ;)