It was a beautiful day in the Pacific Ocean, the sun was shining and the sky clear and blue. Lisa, Claudia, Sammie, Vanessa, and Kim, were on duty monitoring for Zentraedi activity. The ladies were enjoying a cup of hot coffee and chatting about their weekend. It had been nice to have some regular time off and get a chance to feel like they were leading normal lives. Sammie, Vanessa and Kim had told in great minutia the whole of their weekend and Lisa and Claudia listened to them interrupt one another and bicker with one another in the retelling of events. After they were done, they asked Lisa and Claudia about their weekends, when neither provided too many details and Claudia responded with a casual ," just the usual, girls, nothing to write home about."
Sammie with a sly side glance at Vanessa and Kim, asked Lisa innocently, "Are you sure nothing interesting happened this weekend Lisa? Because that's not what we heard." Sammie giggled a bit and waited a bit for Lisa's response.
Lisa blushed a bit but wasn't going jto give anything away asked, "Oh, what did you hear?"
Sammie just giggled some more and said, "Well, I heard that you and Lt. Hunter were on a date together. Some of the pilots we know told us about it. I can't believe you didn't tell us yourself Lisa, it's not fair to keep something like that to yourself."
Lisa laughed and said, "Well it wasn't exactly a date, we just happened to run into each other on the way into the city and neither of us had set plans and ended up at the arcade. That's all, okay?"
Sammie opened her mouth to say something else when with Vanessa's station starting to beep notifying of Zentraedi movement in space. All the women ran to their stations and started to read out on status.
Captain Gloval, stepped onto the bridge, notified from his ready room when the alarms started to ring. Taking his seat, Vanessa read out that two large enemy cruisers were headed their way and that pods were being launched. Gloval gave the order to scramble the Veritech's and Lisa and Claudia both said a short prayer under their breath to keep their loved ones safe.
Both Vermillion and the Skull squadrons were called out to defend the SDF-1 and although the battle was over quickly it wasn't without some sacrifices. Captain Gloval ordered the main gun to be fired as the attacking Zentraedi pressed forward and although it deterred the Zentraedi for now, Gloval knew that the power of the main gun would not be able to defeat a larger force.
Captain Gloval also knew that more needed to be done to get the civilians off the ship as he didn't think it would be much longer before the SDF-1 would be taken by one of the attacking Zentraedi forces. A few days after the attack, Gloval ordered that the SDF-1 ignore the orders of the United Earth Government to stay at sea and head towards land. The SDF-1 cruised over cities causing citizens to panic, while creating questions about what really happened at Macross Island. After days of crossing slowing over the North American continent, the SDF-1 was given approval by the province of Ontario to allow safe passage for the citizens of Macross to relocate.
As the SDF-1 made its way to the Ontario quadrant, the Zentraedi struck again, the SDF-1 once again was able to defeat the Zentraedi attack but at a great loss. The pinpoint barrier overheated causing a blast of over 25 miles, devastating the city underneath the SDF-1 as well as killing one of the Veritech pilots, Ben Dixon, one of Rick's men in his squad. The SDF-1 was ordered by the UEG to immediately return to space to keep the Earth safe from further alien attacks as well as potential accidents caused by the SDF-1.
During this tense time, the ship remained on high alert and Gloval and his crew worked tirelessly to maintain a semblance of order and hope on the ship. Gloval hated to do so, but he had to enforce martial law on the city in his ship when protestors became too violent and threats were made against his crew.
There was also little time for personal relationships during this time, and Rick and Lisa saw even less of each other. Rick never had an opportunity to ask Lisa out again as Lisa's time was very much in demand. Rick, when not patrolling, spent his free time either in the gym or in the simulators preparing for the next attack. He also saw an increased number of logins by EGH to the simulators but paid them no mind as he put into perspective the changes that were happening so fast around him.
Rick frequently thought back to the one day that Lisa and him spent together, and even imagined what their next outing would be like. He hoped it wouldn't be long when he was able to make his dream a reality.
Rick was lying in his room staring at the ceiling when the klaxons starting blaring. It was the sound he had been dreading, and he could hear Lisa's voice over the loudspeaker, "All units, we are under attack, repeat, we are under attack. Report to your stations as soon as possible and await further instructions."
Rick groaned and got out of bed and got dressed as he heard Lisa repeating her order over the loudspeaker. A few minutes later, in his flight suit, he was in a jeep with Max and Roy on his way to the Prometheus. Grabbing his flight helmet from his locker, Rick went to his Veritech to complete the final visual check of the plane and boarded his plane waiting to receive instructions from the bridge. He was surprised when the TacNet beeped notifying him of a private communication. He opened the comm expecting to see either Roy or Max on the other end of the communicator, but was excited to see Lisa on the other end.
"Lt. Commander Hayes!"
Lisa gave him a small worried smile and said, "I don't have much time Lt. Hunter. I just wanted to say, please be careful out there and come home soon!'
With that Lisa disconnected their communication and soon Rick heard her giving takeoff and coordinate instructions on the TacNet to the squadrons and pilots. Rick was waiting for a runaway to be free when Max asked him on their private channel what Lt. Commander Hayes had wanted. Max had been happy when Rick had told him about the time he spent with Lisa and had been encourging Rick to persue the relationship. With a smile, Rick conveyed Lisa's request of him and Rick promised himself that he would make it back safely and ask Lisa out as soon as possible.
Rick swore under his breath as he maneuvered his fighter through the debris of pods and shot another pod down. The fighting was heavy and fierce, these pod fighters were better trained and more aggressive than the other set of Zentraedi that attacked the SDF-1. There was some debate and a theory held by Captain Gloval that there were two Zentraedi forces, both trying to capture the SDF-1, although one group seemed to be more cautious about damaging the SDF-1, while the other opposing Zentraedi force was intent of taking the SDF-1 with no concern to the damage that they caused.
It was this group that was attacking the SDF-1 and the opposing Zentraedi force was not intervening as they had in other battles. They also seemed to have infinite number of pods at their disposal and sent waves and waves of to attack the SDF-1. If something was not done soon, the Veritech's were in serious danger of being overrun and the SDF-1 taken.
Captain Gloval, his hat low over his eyes, lit his pipe and pondering the desperate situation the SDF-1 was in, made a decision and a call that he never wanted to make.
"Lt. Commander Hayes." Captain Gloval called her name calmly.
Lisa hearing her name, responded automatically, "Yes, sir!" Turning to face him, Lisa could barely see his eyes, hooded by his cap.
Gloval studied the young woman before him, so strong and so sure of herself. He had never met another officer so mature and dedicated as her at such a young age. Her dedication was not only to the government she represented, but to her fellow crewmates and to the people here on the ship and to the people on Earth.
Gruffly, he said, "as you know the situation looks dire out there, I don't know if we can make it without some addional support."
Lisa immediately understood what was being asked of her, saluted the captain and said, "I understand sir."
With that Captain Gloval, called Sammie to take over Lisa's position and with a salute to Lisa dismissed her from the bridge.
Author's Note: Thank you foxstarkiller, carolblue and reeven for the kind and encouraging words. I'm typing as fast as I possibly can. I hope you enjoy the story. Thank you to the other reviewers as well. I love hearing your feedback.