Chapter 2 continued
Major T.R. Edwards sat at in a small, dusty room
that had acted temporarily as his office. He was reading flight reports
when an aide knocked on his door.
"Major Edwards sir, Captain Porter wants me
to let you know that you've been given permission to setup the observation
post."
Edwards smiled knowingly and then asked his aide,
"So which one of the stuffed shirts is coming out here? Maistroff?
Carruthers?"
"Neither one of them sir."
Edwards gave the aide a surprised look. He
knew that Maistroff and Carruthers were men who would jump at the chance
to get away from the thick of things if they could. "Well then who's
coming?"
"Admiral Hayes, sir."
Edwards slowly stood up then looked at his aide
as if he hadn't heard correctly, "Did you say Admiral Hayes?"
"Yes sir."
Edwards took a few paces around the room and then
turned around quickly to the aide, "Which Admiral Hayes?"
The aide was puzzled by Edwards strange change of
demeanor. "Well sir, of course, the only Hayes there is left.
Lisa Hayes."
Edwards replied more to himself than to his aide,
"Yes...the only one left now...Lisa..." Edwards snapped out of his
distracted look and told the aide commandingly, "Lieutenant, once she arrives
here, make sure she is taken good care of. Make sure no one gives
her a difficult time or else they will hear directly from me, is that understood?"
"Yes sir."
The aide saluted Edwards and left the room.
* * * * * * *
Rick decided he'd make everyone some toast as well
when he also noticed that nobody had washed the dishes. Figuring
that Lisa would take at least half an hour to take her shower and change,
he thought he could squeeze in some time to cleanup around the kitchen.
Once she finished her shower which was a bit shorter
than she expected, due to the fact that Sammie had gone into the other
bathroom and started the hot water before her, leaving Lisa with only warm
water instead of the nice steaming hot water she was hoping for to relax
her aching muscles, Lisa went back upstairs to her room expecting to find
Rick there.
He wasn't there so she decided to sit on the couch
and wait for him. She was wearing jeans and a tight-fitting sweater.
At first she thought to put on her pajamas, which consisted of a long flannel
gown, which was rather grandmotherly looking. She quickly decided
not to wear that, then she thought to wear her other flannel pajamas, which
were a two-piece set with a flowerly print, but that was also a bit too
plain as well. Then she thought to take one of Rick's white cotton
shirts from the closet, and since they were almost the same height, the
shirt would reveal alot of her legs. She thought over that idea for
some time before deciding that it wasn't a very good idea for the moment,
so she finally settled on jeans and a sweater and then she would change
into one of her flannels after Rick fell asleep.
After a few moments, a cellphone rang and at first
Lisa thought it was hers, but the ringing was coming from Rick's side of
the room, so she let it ring, assuming that whoever was calling would leave
a message on his voicemail. After 6 rings it stopped, but then about
twenty seconds later, the phone started ringing again. Lisa let the
phone ring the six times again then it stopped. When the phone started
ringing for a third time, Lisa decided to go pick it up, maybe it was Claudia
trying to get a hold of Rick.
Lisa picked up the phone and looked at the caller
ID display, it read, "Minmei." The phone was now on its fifth ring
and Lisa stood there staring at the phone until it finished it's sixth
ring and stopped. She wondered what she should do if it started ringing
again. Should she just pretend she didn't know who was calling and
tell Rick that someone had tried to call him on his phone? But why
was Minmei calling Rick after it was understood that they had broken up?
She wondered if she should just answer the phone and let Rick know that
she knew it was Minmei who was trying to call him and see how he would
react. But if she answered Rick's phone, would he get mad at her?
He might see it as Lisa being too suspicious and infringing on his privacy.
Either way, if she answered the phone or not, she was in a no-win situation.
The phone started ringing again and Lisa answered
it but didn't say anything, hoping Minmei would start talking first.
"Hello Rick, this is Minmei, I was wondering if
I could talk to you, I know it's late but--"
"Hello Minmei, Rick is downstairs right now, I'll
get him for you, hang on."
Lisa waited to see if Minmei would respond or just
hang up, and was a disappointed when Minmei answered her, "Oh...Lisa...um...hi...I'm
sorry for bothering this late at night..."
Just then Rick walked through the door with a tray
in his hands and a smile on his face. When he saw Lisa standing there
with his phone to her ear, wearing a startled expression, he quickly put
down the tray.
Lisa told Minmei, "Hang on," and then held the phone
out towards Rick, "It's Minmei."
Rick's mouth dropped open a little and he didn't
know what to say, then Lisa took Rick's hand and placed it in his hand
without saying a word. She started to head towards the door to leave
but Rick quickly grabbed her hand and held her in place as he began his
conversation with Minmei.
"Yes Minmei..."
"Hi Rick, I'm sorry to bother you, I just...well,
I was just feeling so lonely at the moment and I needed to hear your voice..."
Rick could sense Lisa watching him and couldn't
meet her eye. He wondered if this phonecalling of Minmei's was going
to become a habit. If it was, then he was going to have problems
with Lisa very quickly. The fact was, he was somewhat annoyed that
Minmei had called him, it's as if she was clinging to him or trying to
win him back.
"Minmei, I'm sure you'll be fine, is your uncle
and aunt alright?"
"Yes Rick, everyone is fine. But I feel so
tired, tired of picking up and moving again, I just wanted someone who
understood to listen for awhile."
Rick heaved a slightly exasperated sigh, "Minmei.
Please understand, things are different now and--"
"I know Rick, I'm sorry. It's alright, I'll
be alright, I'm sorry I bothered you," and then she hung up the phone.
Rick hit the end-call button somewhat guiltily and
dropped the phone down on the couch and turned around fearfully to see
what the reaction on Lisa's face was.
She wasn't crying and she didn't look angry.
The look on her face was completely unreadable.
"Lisa I...she..." stammered Rick.
Lisa sighed and then shrugged her shoulders as she
said with a resigned tone, "What can be done about it? She's going
to try and hang on to you as long as possible and no one can stop her and
there's nothing I can do about it--"
"Lisa, she and I are never getting back together.
Please believe me when I tell you this."
"I believe you Rick, now can we just forget about
Minmei for now. Our tea is getting cold."
Rick knew that Minmei's phonecall had bothered Lisa,
he could see it on her face, and they eventually would have to have to
figure out what to do if Minmei kept on calling, but they were both tired
and after the up-and-down moments they had had that day, Rick had no wish
to get into another argument. Rick watched as Lisa sat down on the
couch, cup of tea in hand, and remembered that he had asked her to stay
up awhile so that he could talk to her. Considering the effect that
Minmei's phonecall had had on Lisa, he knew it was important for him to
say what he had wanted to say to her as soon as possible.
Rick let Lisa take a few sips of her tea then began,
"Lisa...I..I don't even know where to begin. These last two days
have been such a whirlwind...First of all, I just want to say how sorry
I am for all that you had to go through because of me. I can't believe
how blind and stupid I've been for all these years..."
Lisa genuinely had no answer for him, because it
was actually true, he was so blinded by his dreams of himself and Minmei
that he honestly had not seen any of the signals Lisa was putting out to
him.
Rick had many questions for her, so much more that
could be answered in just one conversation, so he thought to ask the most
important ones first, "Lisa...when did..."
Lisa finished the sentence for him, "When did I
fall in love with you?" She thought for a moment then, "Well, as
for when I was first attracted to you, I guess it was when I saw you that
very first time we saw each other over the comm screens back on Macross
Island. I thought you were very cute. As for when I fell in
love with you...I can't say for sure...I guess...maybe it was right before
the time we were POW's on Breetai's ship..."
Rick gaped at her, "That was four years ago!" he
said with a tone of complete surprise. He then buried his face in
his hands and started shaking his head back and forth.
Lisa was going to put her hand on his shoulder but
he stood up and paced around the room and angrily said, "Four years! How
could I be so blind!? How could I be so stupid?!"
Lisa quickly got up and held him still by his shoulders,
"Rick. Let's not worry about when things happened ok? It's
all in the past now, we can't go back and change it, let's just try and
focus on now and the future."
"But Lisa..."
"Rick, it won't do either of us any good to beat
our heads over what has already happened." She knew him better than
he knew himself sometimes and she suspected that Rick would not be able
to let go of the 'four years' fact for quite some time and that he would
probably spend a good part of his spare time for the next week or so, worrying
and replaying scenarios in his head. It was 1:30 am by now and she
had a busy day ahead of her.
"Rick, we're both exhausted, why don't we get some
sleep, we've got a lot to do tommorrow. There will be plenty of time
to talk and I think both of us can think better when we're not as tired
as we are now."
Rick couldn't argue with her there and he suddenly
realized that she was wearing jeans. "Lisa...is that what you wear
to sleep?"
Lisa hadn't thought of an explanation about her
clothes when she had decided what to wear and she was still stammering
the first word of an explanation when Rick said, "I guess you didn't have
time to pack any pajamas, here, I think I have something for you to wear."
Then Rick went over to the closet and pulled out one of his shirts, a black,
long-sleeved dress-shirt, only one of two that he had ever worn in the
entire time since he had become a solider. Then he rummaged around
in a duffle bag that he had yet to unpack and pulled out a pair of grey
sweatpants and handed both the shirt and the pants to Lisa. She went
to the bathroom to change and in a few minutes she came back, the shirt
sleeves were too long and the pants flopped around her feet as she walked.
Rick chuckled at her and then the two of them suddenly became shy around
each other.
"Are those clothes ok?" asked Rick.
"Oh...why yes, they are fine, thank you," smiled
Lisa.
"So..." said Rick, looking as if he didn't know
what to do.
"So..." echoed Lisa, equally unsure of what to do.
"Uh, do you have enough blankets, you won't be cold
will you?" asked Rick suddenly.
"I should be fine Rick...um...how about you...you
didn't look to comfortable on the couch last night..."
"I...uh...it's ok, don't worry about me," Rick returned
with a meek smile.
Lisa returned a weak smile and then said, "Well
then...uh...goodnight Rick."
Rick hesitated a moment, then, sensing that Lisa
wasn't going to make any physical gesture, Rick took the initiative and
pulled her into his embrace, kissed her on the cheek, then said quietly
in her ear, "Goodnight Lisa."
Again, for the umpteenth time in the past two days,
Lisa felt her knees go weak. He had, always had, such a strong effect
on her that she thought surely she'd end up in the insane ward someday.
Rick took her by the hand and led her to her bed,
then tucked her in and gave her another kiss, this time on the lips, and
then went back to the couch to try and settle into a few hours of sleep.
* * * * * * *
"Oh this tea is so good! And that was very
sweet of Rick to make us some toast too..." said a refreshed Sammie.
"Sammie..." said a tenative Vanessa.
Sammie looked at her and huffed and then jabbered,
"Oh Vanessa, you're not still mad at me for hitting Rick are you, I apologized
to him already and--"
"No, it's not about that Sammie, it's about Kim."
Sammie's eyes widenend and then she quickly put
down her tea, spilling a little bit of it, and rushed over to Vanessa's
end of the room and said in a hushed voice, "What is it?! Is there something
wrong?! Tell me Vanessa!"
Vanessa thought for a moment then said distractedly,
"Well...I am not really sure. It's all so strange, whenever the doctors
come around to do those evaluations, she's 100% back to normal, but as
soon as they leave, she's silent again and I can't get her to talk to me
about anything. Now, the doctors are saying that they are so impressed
with her improvement that they want to let her go home in 2 days."
"But they said she wouldn't be able to go home for
at least a week!" protested Sammie.
Vanessa heaved a sigh and continued, "They haven't
asked me how she's doing when it's just me and her in the room. It's
like they take what they see as her true condition. I don't know
if I should tell them about it or not. I don't want Kim to get mad
at me, and you know what happens when she gets ticked off..."
Sammie rolled her eyes, "Boy! Do I know. Do
you remember that time I borrowed her keys and forgot to return them to
her, so she was locked out of the house in the pouring rain. She
was so piiiiiiiiiiissed off at me for a whole week! "
"Well, that's our firebrand alright. Now you
can understand why I'm not sure if I should snitch on her or not."
"But Vanessa, if we let her condition go as it is,
won't that be more harmful to her?"
"I know, I know..." said Vanessa, shaking her head
tiredly.
Both ladies were silent for a moment then Vannessa
announced in a decisive voice, "Alright. This is what I'm going to
do. When I go see Kim tommorrow I'm gonna tell her that I can see
this flip-flop of moods she's having and that I'm going to mention it to
the doctor's because I don't think this is as normal as a recovery as they
are believing."
"Vanessa! She'll get mad at you if you tell
her that!" said a fearul Sammie.
Vanessa thought for a moment, then she closed her
eyes briefly before continuing, "I know. And I'm not looking forward
to her blowing up at me, but it's something that needs to be done.
She's got to understand that we are just thinking about her well-being."
Sammie nodded and then headed back to her bed, got
into her bed, then said to Vanessa, "Good luck! Because you sure will need
it!" and managed to cover herself with the blankets before Vanessa's thrown
pillow could hit its intended target.
* * * * * * *
Minmei stared at the phone sadly. She had lost
Rick, and it was no one's fault but her own. After all the years
of Rick being there for her whenever she needed him, and carrying a torch
for her, the torch was now burning for another woman, an older woman even.
She remembered the time when she first met Rick
back in Macross City. He emerged out of the battloid dazed and confused.
He spoke to her that very first time and she immediately thought he was
very cute. Then he saved her life more than once that day, and she
would always be grateful to him for that. As the weeks progressed
she sensed Rick wanting to hang around her more and suspected that he had
a crush on her but still greeted him with her usual charisma and charm.
Some people said she was flirting, but she didn't think so, she couldn't
help it, it was her personality to be friendly to everyone, and it wasn't
her fault that the handsome guys seemed to make her pour on the extra charm.
She pushed that thought aside and then made a realization
that she had actually seen this coming. It seems to have been brewing
for the past several months now, and she this fear was probably a subconcsious
reason as to why she had asked Rick if he wanted to get married.
She remembered he had would get distracted sometimes after he had gotten
off the phone with Lisa; they had exchanged several phonecalls because
of work. Rick would get off the phone with Lisa and then come back
to the living room to watch TV with Minmei and she would try to cuddle
up to him and he would seem very distracted. Then there was the time
when she was cleaning up around Rick's desk and had found a photo of a
teenaged Lisa in the top drawer.
Minmei suddenly felt a flash of anger. She
was angry that Lisa had stolen Rick from her. She knew that Lisa
might be some type of competition when she first saw her. Lisa was
older than Rick by five years, but that didn't mean she couldn't be attractive.
Minmei had remembered seeing Lisa on the comm monitors of Rick's plane
the first time but since she was watching from behind the seat, she couldn't
really get a good look at 'the old sourpuss.' Then she saw Lisa in
person for the first time one day in Macross City.
Minmei was in the market and overheard two people
talking in the next aisle, the conversation was nothing to take notice
of but Minmei recognized one of the voices and peeked around the corner
to see Lisa Hayes standing there talking to a store clerk. Minmei
looked at Lisa and hoped that the military wouldn't be entering anyone
in the Miss Macross pageant, because she knew for sure that Lisa could
beat her in the swimsuit and speech portions of the contest. She
watched Lisa walk to the cash register and told herself that she definitely
didn't want to go up against Lisa at the pageant. Lisa's stride was
upright and confident, she had an air of complete coolness, composure and
confidence. Minmei finished up her shopping and breathed a silent
prayer that the military wasn't entering anyone in the contest, especially
Lisa Hayes.
Minmei was still staring at the phone, but her anger
was subsiding somewhat. She couldn't really blame Lisa for falling
in love with Rick, Rick was the kind of guy who probably had more than
a couple women fall in love with him if they got to know him well enough.
She thought about it, Lisa had been chasing after Rick for almost as long
as Rick had been chasing after herself (Minmei). She thought that
there must be a very serious and strong love there for Lisa to secretly
carry a flame for Rick even though he was seemingly taken. Minmei
knew deep down that Rick and Lisa were more suited for each other than
she and Rick could ever be. Rick had matured so much and Minmei wasn't
on his level yet and she knew it.
Minmei heaved a heavy-hearted sigh and decided to
go to sleep, wishing that Rick was there in her arms, but she knew that
would never happen again. Now she had to accept the fact that Rick
belonged to Lisa now and try and get on with her life, but getting over
Rick wouldn't be that easy.
* * * * * * *
She knew she had to get up early tommorrow but knew that there was no way she could sleep tonight. The top brass had hastily designated Monument City as being the chosen city to relocate the New Macross survivors too, but what the brass had overlooked was that Monument was a Zendtraedi free-autonomy area. The joint Zentraedi-terran city council made it clearly known to her that they would accept the New Macrossians only temporarily, at most, six months, then they would have to find another place to relocate to. This surely would not sit well with the people of New Macross. How many times had they had to relocate and rebuild? Once was already unnecessary, and twice was really pushing it, but a third time? She needed to figure out a way to convince the government of Monument to allow the people from New Macross to at least relocate themselves to the fringes of Monument permanently, and hope that they could set up again without having to put too much of a burden on the current inhabitants of Monument, which was 60% Zendtraedi. She knew she couldn't really work out any strategies right at the moment, she needed to consult Mark as well as General Reinhardt, so she decided to have a nightcap before she went to bed.
She was too tired to notice that the light in the kitchen was on and was surprised to find Miriya sitting at the table. Miriya was taken off guard by Claudia's sudden appearance and quickly turned away from Claudia. Claudia could see that Miriya was wiping away tears and quickly sat down and asked her, "Miriya honey, what's wrong?"
Miriya, embarrassed by her display of fragile emotions, quickly wiped away the last of her tears and told Claudia, "It's nothing, I'll be alright."
Claudia looked at her sternly, "Come off it girl, you know that's not true, I'm not blind. Now come on and tell me what's wrong, maybe I can help you." Miriya looked at Claudia but didn't look as if she were going to say anything so Claudia decided that she was going to have to play interrogator.
"Miriya, was it about the incident this afternoon?" she said calmly and quietly.
Miriya didn't reply but merely nodded her head. After a couple of seconds of silence, she looked at Claudia and said in a resigned tone, "Sometimes I feel as if I won't ever be able to be completely
micronian. I've been a micronian for 3 years now and there's still so much I need to learn."
Claudia looked her in the eyes and said, "It's alright to feel that way, but you shouldn't torment yourself over it. Of course it takes time to become used to being a micronian, and it won't happen overnight. It will take some time. And for those people out there who insult you or harrass you because you are Zentraedi, walk away from them and leave them in their ignorance because they most likely will never change. You should be so proud of yourself and hold your head high. You're an ace pilot, a beautiful woman, and you've got a loving husband, a wonderful little girl, and a group of friends who love you, and that's all you need. You don't need the approval of every stranger you meet. Just be true to yourself and your loved ones and nobody else matters."
Miriya got misty-eyed again and said with a hint of embarrassment, "This thing of emotions, it's such a strange feeling, sometimes it feels good, sometimes it feels bad, but right now when you told me what you did, I felt so happy that I feel like crying."
Claudia was starting to get a bit choked up herself so she quickly reached over the table to give Miriya a quick hug and pat on the back.
Miriya got up from the table and said, "Let me make you a cup of coffee! Jean gave me this new machine that makes a type of coffee called 'Cappachin.' I will make some for you!"
Claudia thought twice before speaking. She was going to protest and tell Miriya that it was ok and that she'd just pass on the coffee, but she didn't want to hurt Miriya's feelings so she quicky scanned the room for a fire extinguisher incase it would be needed, and then sat patiently but apprehensively as she watched Miriya fiddle with the Cappaccino maker.
Several minute later, to Claudia's great surprise, Miriya set down two mugs of coffee, topped off with some whip cream and sprinkled cinnamon. Miriya sat down with a triumphant look on her face and Claudia suddenly gasped, "Miriya!"
"What is it Claudia? What's wrong? Is the coffee unacceptable?" asked an anxious Miriya.
"No no no it's not about the coffee, I just had an idea!"
Miriya looked at her, waiting for her to elaborate.
"Miriya, do you know a Lady Hialeah?"
"Yes, I do somewhat, why do you ask?"
"She is one of the Zendtraedi council members for Monument City, I have this idea....," then Claudia began to explain her plan to Miriya...
* * * * * * *
Kim felt herself dozing off to sleep when she was
awoken by a metallic sound, as if someone were banging on a pipe with a
wrench. Kim sat up and wondered why the nursing staff had let such
a loud noise persist at this hour of the night. She sat up and listened
carefully, it didn't sound as if anyone in the hall was scurrying to take
care of the problem, so she got up out of her bed, put on her slippers,
put on her robe and went to the door and peeked out into the hall.
She was surprised to find the hall dimly lit with
an eerie bluish light and she could see no nurses, doctors, or orderlies
in sight. She decided to go to the nurses station to find out what
was going on but when she got there she found the station empty.
She suddenly heard a noise down the hall and found a pilot standing there,
beckoning her to follow him, so she hurried towards his direction and yelled
for him to wait when he took off down an adjacent hall. She got to
the hall and looked around but the pilot was nowhere to be found.
Suddenly she heard Sammie yelling, "Kim! Come on! We have to get out of
here now!!!" Then she heard a large booming sound come from the hall
where her room was and saw that that section of the hospital wing had collapsed.
Then she heard Vanessa's voice, coming from an unseen location, shouting,
"Kim!! Don't just stand there, we have to leave now!!" Kim looked
around her and couldn't find the source of the voices and shouted out for
Sammie and Vanessa but they didn't answer her. All of a sudden she
heard a rush of water and saw that a room was spilling out gallons of water
so she took off running down the other end of the hall.
Kim found herself at a dead-end and felt the hallway
filling up with water, she saw a door in front of her so she decided to
open it so see if she could find a window to climb out of. She opened
the door and closed it behind her, confused as to why the water wasn't
flowing under the door. She decided not to waste anytime and ran
to the window and looked out. About 5 feet down she saw Sammie and
Vanessa standing on the lawn, beckoning her to jump. She perched
herself on the ledge and jumped, expecting to feel soft grass underneath
her feet. Instead, she felt herself make a splash and she felt herself
sinking. For the life of her, she couldn't make any headway towards
the surface, and she was shocked with the realization that she was probably
going to drown.
She then felt something pull on her right leg and
she looked down, it was Admiral Gloval, looking as he did when the SDF-1
was destroyed. Kim wanted to scream but she knew if she did she'd
expend the last of her oxygen. She stared in terror at Gloval and
then she felt something pull on her other leg. She looked down and
it was Lisa. Lisa was holding out her free hand to Kim, as if wanting
Kim to pull her up but then suddenly a light flashed through the water
overhead and Kim felt herself being lifted upwards towards the surface.
She looked down and saw Gloval was nowhere to be seen, but she saw Lisa's
pleading face and arms reaching out for her. Kim tried to head back
down towards Lisa's direction but she couldn't move and watched as Lisa
soon disappeared from her sight.
Kim was pulled out of the water and gulped down
as much fresh air as she could just before she heard an angry voice shout,
"Where's Lisa?!" She turned around to see who it was and she saw
Rick's face, wearing the look of a madman. He shook her while yelling,
"Where's Lisa?! You only saved yourself, you let her drown, you coward!"
Kim shook her head back and forth and started yelling,
"No!! No!! No!!" over and over again.
Kim bolted straight up in bed and looked around
her and found she was back in her hospital room. She was in her hospital
gown still and was sweating profusely. She got up out of bed quickly
and peeked outside the room to see nurses quietly coming and going to and
fro up and down the hallway. She quickly went back to her bed and
pulled the covers over her head before anyone could discover that she was
awake.
Her heart was pounding at an alarming rate and she
took several deep breaths to try and calm herself down. So it was
all a dream then huh? Some dream, she thought spitefully. She
wondered how many more of these nightmares might plague her and she worried
that the one she just had might come true in some ways. Vanessa had
told her she was going to be Lisa's aide, now Kim wondered if the job should
go to someone else. Kim wasn't very superstitious, and she more than
once chided and teased Sammie for being superstitious, but she couldn't
help but feel as if her nightmare was a bad omen.
==============
Next time....
Lisa makes her way out to the jungles of Costa Rica to help Edwards
set up an observation post, Vanessa gets back to work and picks up the
radar investigation, and Miriya practices her diplomacy...
Authors notes:
1. This was a down-time type of chapter. I think all of our characters needed a little breather after all that they've been through the past couple days, but things will really start to pickup when all of our characters wake up in the morning (next chapter)!
2. I hope you don't think Miriya 'wimpy' in this chapter. Remember, she can't be tough all the time, and surely she has gone through some difficult times adjusting to her new life as a Micronian.
3. Kim has not been seen too much in these opening chapters, but
Kim-fans don't fear, she will have
plenty of air-time very soon! :)
4. There has been a couple comments about finishing this fanfic. Actually, I have no idea when it might be finished, since I don't have a plot or outline for this story. I just sit down and write whatever comes to my mind as I type. As long as I can keep coming up with ideas and twists and turns, it will keep going and going...( just like the Energizer bunny!) until the year (macross time) is done. I don't think I can come up with 365 chapters, one for each day, but at the snails pace I'm travelling right now, it just might happen! :)
5. "Hialeah?!" Yes, well, I am not versed in Zendtraedi and so I coudlnt' figure out what would be a good Zendtraedi name and that wasn't already used in some other story somewhere else in fanfic land, so I just looked at the map and picked one exotic sounding. :)
6. Well, though I cannot stand Minmei, she shouldn't go totally ignored, although I'm sure many people wouldn't mind ;) With this little Minmei scene I'm trying to convince myself that she isn't as bad as us anti-Minmei's think she is... :)