Robotech: Frozen in Time
Part 2: Love Eternal
For the next week Rick hardly left Lisa's bedside at all. The only time he did was to go on patrol or fight a rare battle. Right now the SDF-1 was slowly orbiting the planet, just a couple of days ago the SDF-1 manage to meet up with the Enterprise Battlegroup. Which consisted of eight Oberth Destroyers, four Ranger Fleet Tenders, and finally the ARMD-03 Enterprise, which added a lot more firepower to Captain Gloval's Arsnel. The Captain of the Enterpise was an old student of Gloval's and pledged support to Gloval. Luckily for the battlegroup the Enterpise had long ago replaced their Lancer's with VTs so that added another 98 Veritechs to the SDF-1's fighter group. Also Doctor Lang and his Robo technique were busy erecting Pin Point Barriers onto the other ships. Of course their barriers wouldn't be as powerful as the SDF-1s but it would greatly increase the other ships survival against the Zentraedi. Just then a knock on the door jolted Rick out of his thoughts. He got up to answer it and saw that it was Max and Sergeant Anders the replacement for Ben. Ben was lucky to still be alive after his ordeal with the new Zentraedi mecha.
"Yeah Boss, want to go out to Macross to show Mister Anders the city?" Max asked pointing to the sandy blond pilot beside him since the man was a transferee from the Enterprise, one of their back-up pilots. During peace time a pair of pilots would be rotated in and out of a single plane, but since it was war and they needed every pilot they could get, all the back-up pilots were transferred to the SDF-1 to replace some of the ship's losses. At first Rick was going to decline, but something Roy told him a day ago made him reconsider.
"Sure why not, Lisa wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon and I really need the time off," he said as he stepped out and closed the door softly behind him.
* * *
Rick and his team stepped out onto the city streets of Macross to see that it was usual busy self.
"Wow," was all the Anders could say about the city. He was looking up at the EVE projection with wide-eyes. Both Rick and Max shared a smile between them as they joined the flow of traffic. Anders realizing that they were gone jumped into the flow to and quickly caught up with the other two.
"Um… Lieutenant can we go somewhere and eat something I'm starving?" Anders asked in his thick Canadian accent. Max smiled and turned to Rick with a raised eyebrow.
"How about the White Dragon boss, I'm sure everybody would be glad to see you?" Max asked with a smile and a glint behind his eyes. Rick nodded with a smile as he turned and headed in the direction of the White Dragon, his two wingmates joined him.
"Sure I would love to see Max and Lina again," Rick said with a smile as he headed towards the Restaurant in question. A couple of minutes later he stepped into the White Dragon with a smile. Lina at the hostess's stand did a double take and smiled warmly at him.
"Rick how nice to see you again please right this way," Lina said with a smile as she led them to a table.
* * *
Back in the Hospital Room, Lisa had opened her eyes taking in the room she was in. She had heard all the comforting words that Rick said during her comatose experience and heard him in the room with her. But she knew that she would never have Rick, he had Menmei and that was it. So she found some Valium Pills sitting down on her nightstand that look like there were for Rick and swallowed them. Within minutes her eyes closed hopefully for the last time.
* * *
Five minutes later, a nurse stepped into the room to check up on Commander. At first she saw nothing out of place, then she heard the Heart Monitor beeping very slow. This snapped her head over to the bed and saw Commander Hayes laying down supposedly fast asleep. But a bottle was clutched in her hands that the nurse knew wasn't suppose to be their. Suddenly the heart monitor flatlined which announced that they maybe were going to lose her. The nurse hit the panic button near by and got to work.
* * *
Back in the White Dragon in another part of the restaurant was a Lieutenant Rachael Hunter; Rick's older sister that he hasn't seen in years sat at a table. She was sitting at a table with some other pilots transferred from the Enterprise. One of them a man named Morgan looked up in surprise.
"Yeah Elltee, isn't that Anders over there at that table?" Morgan asked with a frown. Rachael turned in her seat to see a group of three pilots seating at the table her eyes widened in surprise for one of the pilots was none other then Rick r younger brother. Her eyes started to inspect him from his unruly brown hair past his uniform's salad bar, which was a lot larger then, her own, down to his white uniform boots. Suddenly the ship intercom started to page Lieutenant Rick Hunter, which made Rick look up in confusion. He looked over at the women who had seated them and asked for something, she nodded and left, returning with a portable phone. He dialed a number and listened for a few seconds then his face went white with fear. The blue haired pilot with him looked at him worried and said something that Rachael couldn't hear from her own table. Rick nodded grimly and excused himself from the table, running out of the restaurant at a dead run. Rachael confused turned her attention back to her fellow pilots who were busy chatting about what they wanted.
* * *
Rick, ran past all the nurses and doctors heading for Lisa's room as he kept chanting in his mind:
~ Please god no, please no! ~
He finally rounded the last corner into Lisa's surprisingly overcrowded room. Doctors and nurses were stuffed like sardines in the already small room. Only the area around the bed was clear enough, were a single nurse and a pair of doctors were at work on Lisa. One of them looked up when he entered and motioned him forward. Rick complied but with dread growing in his stomach as his ears picked up the tone of a low pulse on the heart monitor. The doctor, who called him up, a man by the name of Masters, handed him a familiar bottle of pills that was on the nightstand by the bed. Suddenly it became clear as he looked at the pills what happened.
"She tried to kill herself Doc?" Rick asked shocked looking between the bottle and the comatose Lisa. The Doctor nodded slipping a needle into Lisa's arm.
"But she was asleep when I left!" he yelled with tears forming in his eyes looking down at Lisa. The doctor nodded again as he pressed down on the stopper filling Lisa's bloodstream with either a counter-agent or a stimulate to counteract the powerful sleeping drug. The Doctor waited for a couple of seconds looking at the heart monitor which was fast becoming flatline again with hope in his eyes. Just then Lisa started to cough and her heart rate increased back to a normal rate. The entire room cheered and the doctor turned and took a bow. Little did Lisa know that she had a larger group of people that respected her then they she thinks. Rick sighed with relief, still holding the empty pill bottle. But he still looked lost and confused, he keep thinking that it was his fault if he stayed she wouldn't have taken the pills. Just then Roy and Claudia ran in, Claudia went to comfort Rick as the other pilot started to sit down on the single chair in the room which was pushed back when the doctors arrived. Meanwhile Roy was trying to clear the crowd. Rick was now crying on Claudia's shoulder mumbling that it was it his fault.
* * *
A few minutes later the excitement gone the crowd left to continue their work, leaving Rick, Roy, Claudia, and Doctor Masters alone in the room with the Sleeping Lisa.
"Roy take Rick home, I'll stay with Lisa, and you Doctor thank you for your support," The dark skinned African women ordered the remaining people. Rick turned to look at her through his tears, but was confronted with Claudia's glare.
"Yes Rick you need the sleep, and time to think. Go home take a shower, and go to sleep and if you want to continue to resist I will have Roy here order you to do it." Claudia ordered with a frown and her arms crossed over her chest. Rick nodded and soon left with Masters, and Roy. Claudia sighed pulled the chair to side of the bed looking down at her friend. Claudia sighed again remembering everything Rick and Menmei said about that night in the Electra.
* * *
In one of mighty vessels in the surrounding vessels Khyron glared at the projbeam before him. It showed the rest of the Zentraedi fleet surrounding the SDF-1 and it's small little fleet. It had broke through his blockade and made it to their Homeworld, meeting up with the small fleet that now accompany them around the orbit of their small pitiful planet. Khyron had the distant impression that they were waiting for something. He desperately wanted to attack the fortress but was given a direct order by Dolza himself to leave it be, for the time being. He frowned when an another projbeam appeared disturbing his study and the face of Aziona the current commander of the fleet that is pursuing the SDF-1.
"Yes Aziona what can I do for you?" Khyron asked with fake cheerfulness. Aziona realized this, but decided to ignore it.
"Khyron, I want you to launch an attack force at the Fortress. One that is large enough to keep the Fortress's accursed Veritechs busy while one of my Quadronos slip's in and leave's a package." Aziona said with her usual commanding tone. Khryon's eyebrows raised in surprise when he heard the order.
"But Commander, that's against Dolza's orders," Khyron stated feigning surprise.
"I will send a squad of my own Qaudrono's to support you Khyron," Azonia stated with a frown and arms crossed over her chest trying to look imitating to the Backstabber.
"Fine, I will assemble a strikeforce and attack to allow you to drop this package of yours," Khyron said with a smile as he closed the connection. He turned ordered his two lieutenants to get a strikeforce ready to launch. The two men saluted and left heading for the hanger deck to assemble the said strike force. Khyron then turned back to the Projbeam, thinking up one of his plans. Aziona would know nothing about it and when she did it would be too late. He started laughing evilly, for his plan was set and it was time to repay the accursed humans for all the devastation defeats they delivered to Khyron. It won't happen again if his plan succeeded. His laughter echoed through the rest of the ship.
* * *
Back on the SDF-1, Lisa Hayes was waking up to see her friend Claudia Grant looking over at her.
"Good your awake Lisa, you gave us such a scare for awhile," Claudia said with a smile at her. Then she calmly slapped Lisa, Lisa sat there shocked raising her hand to touch her warm skin were the slap hit.
"That was for being stupid, trying to kill yourself. You are a very important assent to the ship and you go blow away trying to kill yourself." Claudia said no longer smiling.
"But Rick doesn't love me at all, so I can't go on in life anymore. I already lost Karl and then I lost Rick I can't stand it anymore." Lisa said as she started to cry, which was rare for her. Claudia sighed and leaned down to hug her friend. Claudia was about to say something when someone else cleared his or her throat.
"Your wrong Lisa, you never lost me you never will. I love both you and Menmei, but I love Menmei as a little sister then anything else. But I love you more then her Lisa." Rick said as he stepped into the room with sad eyes. Claudia saw the way the two were looking at each decided to leave, and so she did, she silently left through the door that Rick came in from. The two stared each other not noticing her departure and finally Lisa broke the silence.
"Oh Rick I'm sorry for what I did, can you forgive me for doing those things," she said sadly remembering she running out on him on their first date. Rick sat down on the edge of the bed and softly laid his hand on her face. Lisa leaned into the hand feeling the comfort and happiness coming from it. Suddenly the sirens and the voice of Sammie ruined the magic appearing between the two. Rick shook himself at on his daze and gave a quick kiss to Lisa on her forehead and her lips, got up and left. Lisa softy touched her lips with her fingers with a sigh, the burning of Rick's lips still felt on her own lips. She gently smiled and cuddled up into her hospital bed falling back asleep.
* * *
Rick ran into the hanger in his flightsuit and his helmet or "thinking cap" in his hand running for his white and red Veritech. Using the ladder that the crew chief attached to the side of his mecha. He jumped into the cockpit and then slip on his "thinking cap" then his hands went through his start up procedure as both his HUD and HDDs came alive. Finally he ordered the Veritech to the elevator and sat back waiting for his turn to launch. While he did his mind went over his priorities. First he used to think that when he flew and fought he was protecting Menmei, now he protected Lisa and Menmei, along with civilians in Macross like Max, Lina and the Mayor. That was what he was protecting and the first time since he joined the RDF he was no longer confused over his priorities. Second, he flew for the fun it and like Roy said Robotech can get into your blood. Finally it came for his Squadron to launch. Rick smiled grimly as the elevator took him up to the deck, meanwhile his tailrons raised up from their storage positions, and his wings swept backward. His Veritech was lead to one of the Catapults on the deck and waited for the sudden accretion of the launching system. Finally it came and he smiled evilly as he flew right so the next VT could launch. Rick then meet up with the rest of the Vermilion Squadron. A total of eight Veritechs formed around him, all veterans transferred from other squadrons to make room for the former Enterprise pilots. Anders was the only newcomer to the Squadron, but he had proved himself in the Sims. Both Max and Ben recently released from the hospital took positions on each of his wings.
"Skull Leader, Vermilion Lead, Vermilion Squadron ready to rock and roll sir!" Rick said into the tac-net. His squadron was the last one to launch and so Roy gave the order.
"Alright, Veritech Group let's move out; Comet Wing stand by and protect the Shuttles; shuttles we are counting on you guys to save our asses if we eject." Roy ordered as he hit his afterburners with the rest of the Veritechs following his lead heading for the approaching enemy. Behind the Veritechs eating the VTs thruster trails were a group of Comet Gunships waited silently by their charges ready to leap into the action when someone needs help. The Comet Gunship was a new Robotech Design and was placed aboard the Enterprise, but they were the only ones in existence so both Gloval and Fokker decided to use them as a reserve. They were slow, heavily armed, and armored small ships. They had banks of A-A Guns running along their sides, a pair of missile launchers in front of the A-A Guns fixed forward, and finally a brand new type of a Particle Canon better then the ones mounted on the Lancer Fighter. Now they were facing their first combat assignment since they were developed and the crews were bound and determined to prove their worth. Behind them were Rabbit Shuttles from both the Enterprise and SDF-1 waiting for the call of a downed pilot. These shuttles were chosen over the much larger Star Goose Shuttle for pilot rescue, because of the Rabbits speed, ECM Suit, and heavy sensors. Unlike the Star Goose which is a chiefly passenger shuttle. Back in his Veritech Rick smiled evilly behind his faceplate for the SDF-1s Veritech Wing was at full strength the first time since the Battle of Pluto, along with the Enterprise's air wing the Veritech group was stronger then ever before. As the enemy came into range Roy gave the order to open fire. Missiles screamed from wing pylons and internal missile tubes heading towards the enemy. Hundreds upon hundreds of missiles found their mark, hitting the enemy assault force directly. Half of the attacking pods and tri-thrusters were destroyed in the first few seconds of the battle. Then it was the Gunships turn launching their own missiles from their position behind the Veritechs. Another good portions of the pods were destroyed granted not as many during the first attack, but still it was plenty.
"Alright Ladies and Gents that trick won't work twice, for they now know that we have more Veritechs then we had in the last battle along with the Gunships range. So let's get a little personnel and watch it the Rabbits are picking up those new Mecha in the group as well. Right let's get them!" Roy said into the tac-net to all the pilots. Now the Veritechs threw themselves onto their surprised enemy taking on pod individually, with wingmates breaking off from each other to engage enemies one on one. The VTs changed modes when the situation demanded from fighter to Battliod, from Battliod to fighter or guardian. Rick himself threw his squadron into the thick of the enemy formation along with Skull, Ghost, Wolf, and Dragon Squadrons the other Veteran formations. Rick flew like he never had before, fought like he never had either for now he a purpose to fight, something, someone to fight for.
* * *
On the bridge of the SDF-1, Gloval and the bridge crew watch as the Veritechs meet the Battlepods head on. The space in front of them lit up with explosions as the two groups meet. He turned his head to see the Gunships staying in their formation acting both as a rearguard and an escort for the rescue shuttles. They were firing their particle canons with lethal results, along with their missile launchers. He turned to Lisa temporary replacement Lieutenant Jen Hale.
"Lieutenant Hale how are the Comets doing?" he asked turning to look over at them again. The women…no girl looked back at her station and inputting a few commands into the station. Then she turned to look back at Gloval.
"Sir the enemy has yet to engage them, they are only sniping the enemy as per orders from Commander Fokker." The Lieutenant replied with a very surprising young voice that shocked Gloval to the core. Gloval nodded and continued to look at the gunships. But a voice interrupting his thoughts.
"Henry you're looking thoughtful, planing on something with the Gunships are we?" female voice with a thick Russian ascent munch like his own, asked from his armrest COMM screen. Gloval looked down with a smile at the women sitting in a chair munch like his own, which was a bridge munch smaller then his own bridge. The women had wore a uniform munch like his own too complete with a similar naval cap with black visor, unlike his own the women had it low over her eyes burying her facial feturtes in shadow. But her long black hair flowed freely from the back of the cap.
"I was indeed thinking about using the Gunships to give the VTs some breathing room Alex. Do you concur?" Gloval asked with a smile. The women was Captain Alexandra Devana the Captain of the ARMD-03 Enterprise, one of Gloval's close friends from his days in the Russian Navy during the Civil War. When the U.N Spacy was formed she was one of the first "old hands" to sign on as a Captain alongside Gloval. Like Gloval her first space command was an Oberth Destroyer, the Tsjolkovsky. Now she moved on to Command the Enterprise after it's old Captain had a massive heart attack during the Battle of Earth when his ship was heavily damaged thanks to the Zentraedi bombardment. Now Alexandra or Alex as her friends call her commanded the repaired ship, the first carrier she commanded. Also it seemed strange for a native Russian to command a carrier named after the premier U.S Carrier line during the wet navy days. The ARMD was the fifth carrier to bear the proud name of Enterprise, but it was the sixth ship to carry the name for the English Royal Navy had a ship named Enterprise during the wood clad days. Claudia's voice shook Gloval's from his thoughts.
"Sir, the main enemy cruisers have yet to engage us, it looks like another probe," the other much more mature women said with anger in her voice.
"Right Claudia keep an eye on those cruisers. Hale send in a squadron of Comets to help the VTs, they are to run through the middle of the enemy formation and take out many pods as possible. Alex you might want to power the group's barriers for we may get some action pretty soon," Gloval ordered in his Russian ascent and his tobacco stained fingers rubbing his chin in thought.
* * *
Back in the battle Rachael fought and flew like she never had before. She paused briefly to see Rick flying circles around one of the new enemy mechas. Rick was fighting like a demon and flying like one to. Nothing could stand before him, but even with him and other ace pilots in the group they were being pushed back to the SDF-1. But that all change when a squadron of Gunships appeared and tore the heart of the enemy formation to pieces. A few Gunships were targeted and destroyed but their multiple A-A Guns swat any pod down before the rest could get in range. The crews then realized the single weakness of the Comet it had no aft defenses, so Pods could drop behind them and destroy them. But the VTs rose up in the defense of their comrades and took on any pod trying to sneak up the gunships. The Gunships tore the innards of the enemy formation just like Gloval thought it would. Racheal then moved remaining sqaudron to cover the rears of the Gunships and rejoined the battle.
* * *
In his Officer's Pod on the side of the battle or furball if you wanted to call it that, Khyron was getting pretty pissed since his attack force was getting defeated with the arrival of those new ships. He was still pretty please with himself for taking out a few of their ace pilots. One which was better then the others painted in white and yellow colors got hit in the cockpit killing the pilot, a second one not so good but had a pair of aces with him got hit then ejected but Khyron destroyed his escape pod before the other humans could rescue him. Now that their aces were gone, at most of them it was time to bring out his trump card.
"Grel, it is time fold NOW!!" Khyron ordered into the tac net. In the back of the Zentrandaei armada a cruiser received the order and activated their already charged Fold Engines. Seconds later the cruiser reappeared between the fortress and the VT group.
* * *
On the bridge of the SDF-1 Gloval cursed as the cruiser reappeared right in front right in front of the ship. Once the affects of the fold disappeared, they started launching more mecha into the fray. Gloval cursed again and turned to both Alex's image and Lieutenant Hale.
"Hale get the rest of those Gunships into the battle, just keep a few to defend the shuttles. Alex order your destroyers to launch their missiles at the cruiser. Let's pray that their barrier works and tell them good luck," he ordered and Alex just nodded and closed the connection. He then turned to look at Claudia, who was patiently doing her duty's at her station, a couple minutes ago Hale reported to him privately that Fokker was died. He was going to tell Claudia after the battle, but he regretted it since she wouldn't be in any position for duty. But it was time to get back into the battle.
"Claudia sense Lisa is not here, Can you launch the Daueadlus? We are going to need it if the destroyers fail…" Gloval ordered, but stopped in mid order when Vanessa, the only member of the Trio on the bridge since Sammie was seating in with Lisa and Kim was MIA looked up in with fear.
"Captain the Cruiser is targeting us!" Vanessa yelled out in surprise. Gloval turned to looked out the viewport to see dozens of the cruisers turrets turn to aim at them. The cruiser since he had last saw it had turned to present it's broadside to the SDF-1, while the guns on the side started going off hitting Veritechs, and Gunships.
"CLEAR THE BRIDGE!!!" Gloval ordered as the turrets started to glow with discharge. Every single tech jumped up and started to head towards the door but it was two late for the cruiser opened fire spearing the techo-knight that is the SDF-1. Luckily, the barrier control center figured out what the cruisers was planing and moved the barriers to Engineering, Command Superstructure, and Navigation. But the barrier disk heading for the Command Superstructure or the head while the ship was in attack mode didn't make it in time but it managed to cover part of the head. Even that was not enough the head of the ship was in ruins, the entire "face" of the head was caved in, the bridge on the top of the head was jutting out from the ruins of the decks below it. But the bridge was hit heavily for the viewport was blown inwards and an emergency bulked slammed shut were the viewport once was and closed the bridge from horrors of space.
* * *
Onboard the Enterprise, Captain Devana looked on in horror as the SDF-1 stopped firing it's secondary batteries, which meant that the weapon control center was hit. Alex turned back to her displays with teeth and fists clenched. Her ship was slightly behind the disabled SDF-1, were Gloval ordered her when the battle started since his ship had a better barrier and was a lot bigger then the Enterprise as well. Now it was the Enterprise's turn to shine, Alex thought to herself. She turned to the helm officer, with a glare that made the man manning the station to flinch.
"Lieutenant, bring us around the SDF-1, we have to give them time to recover, tactical power up the canons and warm up the missile batteries." She ordered with a growl her well-trained bridge crew reacted granted they didn't have the experience that the SDF-1's crew did but they still followed orders and followed her orders to the letter. What Alex planed was to bring her ship around in a position between the SDF-1 and the enemy cruiser then unleash, the only effective weapon aboard her ship that proved useable against the Zentreadi, the HLBL-2 Missile batteries. Followed by a follow up attack by the destroyers using their own TSLS-6 launchers. The carrier's escorts, the five Oberth destroyers that were assigned to the battle, while the other three stayed back and protected the tenders, the Desdemona, Titania, Dido, Katherine, and the Beatrice figuring out what Alex was thinking follow their flagship into the hellstorm.
"Barrier control shift all barriers to Starboard, same orders for the Destroyers as well," She order the new barrier control room. Unlike the SDF-1 the Carrier had three disks, while the destroyers had two. Of course thanks to her ship's most critical weakness, she couldn't use her energy weapons since the reactor was a little underpowered even if the weapons were online. So she had to wait to use her canons and laser turrets while the barrier was on.
"Ma'am we are now in position in front of the SDF-1, barriers online and holding. The enemy has shifted their fire from the SDF-1 to us, but the barriers are holding," the tac officer reported with a smile. Alex chuckled trying not take a spill since her ship was rocking back and forth from the hits that the enemy was delivering.
"Helm, those barriers can't hold for long execute Evasion Plan Bravo-3 and Tactical the missile batteries may fire when ready!" She ordered with a yell the officer nodded and turned back to his station. The tac officer a women nodded to and spoke into her MIC on her station. On the deck of the ship, two large panels opened and pair of Bomarck II missiles were thrown horizontally into space, then the pair one from each launcher ignited their engines heading towards the enemy. Meanwhile the clusters of maneuvering thrusters lit up moving the ship away from the enemy's barrage, but still having its protected starboard still facing the enemy weapons. The ship's launchers went into rapid fire, firing off three missiles a second, the cruiser got caught with it's pant down since it was still celebrating from the disabling blow to the SDF-1. The destroyers own Tridents came in next and multiple explosions on the hull suddenly lighted up the cruiser, when the smoke cleared the cruiser was pockmarked with craters and holes, large human figures spiraled out of the those holes into the airless void of space. The entire bridge crew cheered, but quickly shut-up for the enemy fired again hitting the ship rocking the ship further. But again surprise caught the enemy as multiple beams of light speared the enemy, for the SDF-1 was back into the fight firing it's secondary batteries. With a final barrage of Bomarck, Titan, and Spacehawk missiles from the Enterprise, Destroyers, and the SDF-1 the enemy cruiser glowed briefly then it exploded taking a lot of the enemies Mecha with it.
* * *
Back aboard the SDF-1 Sammie, and Lisa sat staring at the Television which was giving the civilian's brief information about the battle. But something just went wrong for the T.V reported that a Zentreadi cruiser defolded right in front of the ship. Both women went pale with fear as the report came in. Then hell broke lose as the ship shook violently more then it had before during the battle. The two officers looked at each other for a few minutes trying to figure out what happened. Just then a very panicked nurse ran past, but stopped when Lisa called her in.
"What happened?" She asked in surprise. The nurse a man looked at her with panicked eyes, but couldn't say anything, but then recovered himself.
"Ma'am the superstructure was just hit and multiple casualties have been reported," the man reported with a grim frown. Both women went pale yet again, but Lisa quickly sprang into action.
"Sammie help me up we need to get to the secondary bridge ASAP," she ordered as she swung her legs around and onto the floor. Sammie blinked, but helped her friend up from the bed. Lisa clumsily walked to the single closet in the room and opened it to see one of her uniforms in it. With the help of Sammie she managed to change from the hospital gown to her uniform. With Sammie's support the two made their way to out of the base and towards the secondary bridge. When the door flew open the two could see techs and officers running around the room trying to get things in order. A lowly tech saw her and snapped a salute, which was returned.
"Who is in charge here!" She yelled out, as if by magic the room quieted down and a officer stepped up forward with the rank pin of a Senior Lieutenant.
"I am ma'am, Senior Lieutenant Lewis!" The man answered with a salute. Both Sammie and Lisa returned it as the two stepped further into the room which look similar to the real bridge but was a lot smaller.
"Right I am taking command as of now, Lieutenant Porter please if you will see what is going on with the damage and control party upstairs, then report back to me." Lisa ordered and Sammie nodded helping Lisa into the command chair and taking off. Now with a veteran officer in charge the crew settled down and got back to work.
"Alright, sensor's report, what is going on out there and activate the main displays," Lisa ordered and the Ensign manning that station nodded turning back to her station and the main display shifted from stand-by to active showing the battle outside coming from the camera's on the hull.
"Ma'am, it looks like the Enterprise and the Destroyers have joined the battle, they have their barriers up and concentrated on their starboard bow. Also the fighter battle is not going well, we have over 75% percent casualties in the VT group alone." The women reported a few minutes later with a grim frown. Lisa frowned to, deep inside herself she hoped that Rick was not along the dead. But she was in command and it was time to repay the dept.
"Alright, tactical open fire on the enemy, navigation bring us forward towards the Enterprise and the battle we need to support our fighters," Lisa ordered with the cool calm that she was known for. But deep inside she knew that had lost friends that this day. The ship's secondary guns opened again pinpointing the enemy in with spears of light.
* * *
Still on the side of the battle was Khyron who was smiling now that Grel's cruiser had fire upon the cursed SDF-1. He laughed evilly as the SDF-1 was damaged and his new forces joined in the battle. But his smile turned to a frown when an projbeam appeared in front of him showing a very enraged Aziona.
"Khyron, what are you doing? I ordered you only to mount a diversion and the package has been delivered so retreat back to the fleet!" The women ordered with a snarl. But Khyron just grinned at her from behind his faceplate.
"Sorry Commander did you say something…" he said but stopped for a couple of Micronian fighters appeared.
"Got to go Commander I'm being attacked," he said and cut the connection to Aziona. He then turned his attention to the fighters, which were now switching to their bipedal mode.
~ This is going to be so easy! ~ Khyron thought as he powered up his weapons. The enemy got closer and closer, and when they were in range he unleashed a storm of plasma blasts their way.
* * *
Rick Hunter flew beside his wingmate Max Sterling in a rage in Battliod mode. He had just picked up the Officer Pod that took out Roy, Ben, Anders, a lot of Skull Squadron, and most of his own squadron. Silent tears fell down his face behind his faceplate, but he didn't stop to mourn the loss of his big brother. It was time to fight he would mourn later. He barely managed to dodge the opening salvo of the pod and returned the favor with the last of his missiles. Rick and Max without telling each other went opposite directions.
* * *
Khyron was so sure that he could kill them that he split his fire between the two, that was a fatal mistake for the two VT pilots easily dodged the fire and quickly return fire with their Gunpods. A stream of hallow point munitions from Rick's Gunpod destroyed the top plastron canon, while Max had a little more precision and destroyed the right arm of the pod. In his harness Khyron grunted in pain as his control blew up in front of him. He couldn't believe it that his pod was damaged with two thirds of his weapons already gone. Just then his cruiser blew up in an expanding ball of plasma, he cursed as the SDF-1 flew past the remains of the ship and started to hit his forces engaged with the Veritechs. He quickly decided to retreat and so he did, but with his tail between his leg as Rick and Max will say later. He waited int'l he retreat to safely away from the Micronian fighters to recall his troops. His heavily damaged pod leaking some of its innards limped back to the fleet.
* * *
Rick growled as the Pod retreated back to it's fleet. He then turned his ship around back towards to the headless SDF-1. As he arrived back in battle the pods were starting to retreat, since no one was offically in charge of the Veritechs they started to chase after the pods. Rick quickly got on the Tac-net.
"All Veritechs return to base, we are done here let them go home with their tails between their legs we have to get back," Rick ordered and surprisingly they did, they broke off and formed around Rick. Rick did a quick count of the VTs, there were only fifty-seven Veritechs still flying out of the original three hundred that they started out with, that of course didn't count ones that retired from the battle thanks to battle damage. But it was still shocking that was over 82% casualties for the wing, which was the worst, then any other battle. Also Gunships rose into position in the formation, they were lucky they only lost 13 ships out of 42 that they started out with. But of course they had 69% casualties but they fought late in the battle.
"Commander your orders?" One of the Gunship's commanders asked with sad eyes. Rick surpised looked at him through the COMM screen.
"What?" Rick asked confused since there was bound to be other flight officers in the survivors. He was totally confused and he showed it to. Suddenly one of the surviving Skull pilots appeared on the center screen.
"It's true, you're the next CAG, all the other officers are either inexperienced or dead," the Skull pilot replied with a sad smile. Before Rick could reply a voice came through the net, that sounded very familiar and comforting to Rick.
"All Veritechs welcome home and congregations on a victory, but may god bless those souls that are not here today," Lisa said as her face sprang up on the center screen of every VT.
* * *
On the secondary bridge of the SDF-1, Lisa Hayes watched as the VT group started to head home. She quickly looked over at the COMM tech.
"Get me contact with the VT group," she ordered and the said tech nodded inputting a few commands into her station, then she turned to nod to Lisa.
"All Veritechs welcome home and congregations on a victory, but may god bless those souls that are not here today," she said sadly into the mike on her own station. Then she closed the channel, but she wasn't done yet she a sloppy written order in her hands from Gloval who was now in the operating room. So she turned back to the COMM tech again.
"Alright now get me in touch with the highest ranking officer left, and route it to my station," she ordered and the tech nodded again turning back to her station. She knew that Gloval, Vanessa, and Claudia surviced the destruction of the bridge. But the other techs on the bridge were killed, along with thirty-seven other personnel dead; some of them were top brass. Also she knew that Fokker and his 2IC Captain Kramer were dead as well, thanks to Vanessa who told her through Sammie who was know sitting at her side. Suddenly the VT pilot's face sprang up on her screen and she sighed with relief when she saw that it was Rick. He looked extremely haggard and tired, also tear streaks ran down his face.
"Rick thank god, your alive. Well I am sorry to do this but this is from Captain Gloval before he passed out, he wants me to give a battlefield promotion to the highest ranking officer left and your it. So you are now the new CAG of the SDF-1 Rick. I know that you don't want it, but it is the Captain's orders Rick." Lisa said with a sad smile. Rick on his side sighed defeated, knowing that he was indeed the highest ranking officer left.
"Right Lisa, I got it…" Rick said but then his eyes bugged out as he remembered something, then he became pissed.
"DAMN IT LISA WHY THE HELL ARE YOU OUT OF BED!!" Rick roared out surprising Lisa, who just frowned and waved her finger in front of the pick-up.
"Because, I was for all I knew the single remaining officer alive and so I took command!" She yelled right back. Rick sighed calming himself down and he then smiled which calmed her down as well.
"Sorry about that Lisa, I'm just worried about you that's all. Now please now that it as calmed down hand command over to someone else and go back to bed, please." Rick begged Lisa, of course Lisa just nodded. Rick sighed and leaned forward into the pick-up.
"I love you Lisa," he whispered, Lisa wiped a tear from her eyes and blew him a kiss. She to leaned forward into her own pick-up.
"Love you too Rick see you when you're done with the debriefing," she whispered back and cut the transmission. She leaned back and rubbed her eyes. She then opened her eyes to see the entire crew looking at her with smiles.
"Right, Lewis you have command, I am going back to my room," she growled out as she weakly got up from her chair. She called one of the techs over to her to help her back to the hospital. The battle took a lot out of her and she was now bone tired. But before she forgot she turned to look at Lewis.
"Remember, land the SDF-1 on the Earth, so we can repair the Superstructure," she ordered and left heading for her room and a bed.
* * *
In the black night on the peaceful sea, a pair of large flames appeared on the horizon, which were not comets nor planes nor anything. The light from flames outlined a large human looking figure with flames coming out of its hands and feet falling rapidly. So the shape touched down in the Pacific Ocean and it started to floated with it's arms stretched out in front of it looking like somebody surrendering or showing that they had no weapons on them. The SDF-1 after a brutal struggle had returned to its mother planet of Earth after two bloody years of conflict it had returned.
~ ~ ~
Author Notes:
There we are Part Two of Frozen in Time. Took me a while to write this but I did it and I am proud of it. I really apologize for the fast paced fight scene with Khyron, but number one I wanted to get this done, number two I am really not that good at fight scenes. Also I like to thank all me reviewers, of course I was surprised when Sphersian review for he is one of the best Robotech writers I have ever read and it was an honor for him to read my own fic and I thank you Sphersian for the kind words. Also thanks to you all for the wonderful reviews and I hope this chapter was what you wanted. Also I do believe the scene were the bridge is hit almost comes out of another fic, but I forget the name, I can't find it on FF.N anymore. Ah well! I just borrowed that idea from someone else so I don't own it, granted Lisa was caught in it not sitting in a hospital room. Also I just couldn't resist having Khyron beat up a bit by Rick and Max, also yes Khyron did indeed was the one that killed Roy, Ben, the new guy Anders and a lot of Rick's friends. I thought that would shine a all new light on things. Well enough of me talking so please review tell me what you think.
~Deathzealot