SKULL LEADER'S DOWN!

CHAPTER 2

"NO!" Lisa's scream in the middle of the night awaken Rick with a startling jolt. He ran to Lisa's bedroom as fast as he could. As Rick entered her bedroom, he found Lisa sitting up in her bed wide eyed with sweat pouring off her brow. He ran over to where Lisa was, sat down on the bed and put his hands on Lisa's shoulders.

"Lisa it's ok! It's ok! You were just having a nightmare!"

"I'm not on the bridge of the SDF-1?"

"No Lisa. You're in your home in your bedroom." Rick answered in a soothing tone of voice.

"Oh Rick! What a horrible dream I had!" Lisa said as she buried her head into Rick's chest. She was crying and shaking like a leaf in a stiff wind. "I dreamed that I was on the bridge of the SDF-1 and Admiral Gloval gave us the order to abandon ship. I was running to an escape pod but something was holding me down preventing me from running. A wall of fire was coming at me. I tried to run but my feet weren't moving. And…and…Oh God! It was just horrible Rick! Hold me Rick, just hold me."

"It's ok Lisa. It was just a nightmare. It wasn't real. Let it go. Let it go." Rick said soothingly as he was rocking Lisa in his arms.

After several minutes, Rick pulled Lisa away from his chest. "Are you all right now Lisa?"

Lisa nodded her head.

"Do you need anything to help you sleep?"

"No, I'll be all right. Rick before you go, can you do something for me?"

"Sure Lisa. What is it?"

"Please don't take this the wrong way Rick, and I know you were sleeping on the couch because you're being a nice guy, but do you mind wrapping your arms around me and lie in bed with me? After the nightmare I just had, I don't think I can fall asleep by myself."

"Sure Lisa, I don't mind." Rick said as he kissed Lisa on the forehead.

"Thank you, Rick." Lisa said with a smile as she kissed Rick on the lips.

Rick got on the other side of Lisa's bed and pulled the sheets, blanket and comforter over them. Rick wrapped his arms around Lisa's chest as they began lying down. Rick couldn't see it but Lisa had a contented smile on her face as she was closing her eyes.

'This is more like it. Rick's arms around me are like having an extra blanket. I feel so warm and safe.'

Lisa was asleep in a matter of seconds.

The next morning

The morning sun began to filter in and cut through the darkness of Lisa's bedroom. Rick opened his eyes and had to blink several times to get his eyes in focus. He first checked his wristwatch. It showed 0730. Rick was used to waking up early from the days of when he traveled with his father's flying circus. In the summer when he was out of school, Rick's father had him up early in the morning on the day of a show to help his father get the planes ready by fueling up the planes, shining the planes and doing general maintenance work on the planes.

'Good, we have time. Thank the universe Admiral Gloval allowed us to report in late.'

Rick looked around Lisa's bedroom, then noticed Lisa's arm draped across his chest. He looked over at the sleeping Lisa and smiled. He wanted to reach over and kiss Lisa lightly on the cheek but not wanting to wake her, decided against it.

'I haven't heard a peep out of her since she woke up from her nightmare last night. I guess me sleeping with her did help Lisa sleep through the night. I'll let her sleep a little while longer. I might as well get up since I'm awake. I wonder if the electricity is still out.'

Rick slowly got out of bed as if not to wake Lisa. He walked into the bedroom and flicked the switch to test if the power is back on. The lights were still out. He closed the door to the bathroom but left a small crack opened so he can at least see what he was doing. He hated having to shave using cold water but he had no choice in the matter. He turned on the water and shaved and brushed his teeth. Several minutes later when left the bathroom and walked into the bedroom, Rick noticed Lisa was still sleeping. He didn't want to wake her but they do have to report for duty. Rick went over to Lisa's bed, bent down and kissed her lightly on the lips for a second.

"Lisa, wake up. It's time to get up."

Lisa didn't even stir much less move. Rick kissed Lisa again on the lips but this time he held it a little longer. As Rick was kissing Lisa, Lisa quickly moved her arm and looped it around Rick's neck. She pulled Rick forward to her. Rick caught off guard by Lisa's lightning quick move was thrown off balance. He recovered just in time and positioned himself beside Lisa. After a while they stopped to get a breath of air. Lisa smiled a contented smile at Rick and looked at him with love in her eyes.

"Good morning beautiful." Rick whispered in a low loving tone of voice.

"Good morning to you too, you know I wouldn't mind waking up to the sight of you every morning."

"I don't mind either. You will get your chance from now on or until I find another place to live."

"Oh no, you're staying with me from now on."

"I don't mind that at all. I hate to break to you because I would like to stay like this with you forever, but we have to report for duty in a little over an hour from now and the power is still out. So, while you are freshening yourself up, I'll call the base and tell them to send a driver over to here. When we get to base, we'll eat breakfast at the officer's mess and we should be finished in time for our meeting with Admiral Gloval."

Lisa groaned because despite being an admiral's daughter and used to the rigors of military life, she was never a morning person. She also wanted to stay in bed with Rick all day. But Lisa knew that duty came first. Also, she said to herself, there will be plenty of days ahead of her where she can spend all day in bed with Rick

"I guess you're right Rick. I'll get up."

As Lisa was in the bathroom getting her self ready for the day, Rick called the base and asked that a driver be sent over to Lisa's house to pick them up and drive them to the base. The driver arrived at Lisa's house before 0800 and drove them to Fokker Base. At the base, the driver dropped them off at the officer's mess. Admiral's Gloval temporary office was near the mess so Rick allowed the driver to go back to his unit.

After eating breakfast, Lisa and Rick walked over to Admiral Gloval's temporary office and headquarters holding hands like two people in love, which they are. At a conference room just set up the night before by Claudia, Vanessa and Kim, Rick and Lisa waited for the meeting to begin with Claudia, Vanessa, Sammie and Kim. As they were milling around and talking, Admiral Gloval along with Exedore came into the conference room by a side door. General Maistroff was walking behind them. Lisa was the first to notice them.

"ATTENTION ON DECK!"

Everyone snapped to attention and the room fell silent. Admiral Gloval walked over to the head of the rectangular conference table and stopped. Exedore stood next to Admiral Gloval, while Maistroff was on the other side.

"As you were everyone, take your seats please."

After everyone sat down, Admiral Gloval began to speak. "Unfortunately this meeting cannot start yet because General Leonard and Colonel Emerson are not here yet."

Rick was disgusted at hearing the names of Leonard and Emerson. He wasn't saying it out loud but he summed up the feelings of everyone in the room. 'Great, just what this meeting doesn't need, that arrogant bastard Leonard and his lap dog, Emerson. We will be waiting for hours for them to show up. Why do they need to be here anyway? I'm glad Admiral Gloval is still around. If that xenophobe Leonard ever gets his meat hooks into the RDF, the RDF is ruined.'

Just as soon as Admiral Gloval mentioned their names, Anatole Eli Leonard and Rolf Emerson walked into the conference room from the back of the room. Leonard was about to yell out why didn't anyone called the room to attention when he walked in when he noticed Admiral Gloval sitting at the head of the conference table. His face turned beet red, not out of embarrassment but out of the sheer rage of jealousy. He wanted to be the commander of the RDF but he knew he couldn't so long as Admiral Gloval was alive. Admiral Gloval kept a neutral look on his face but he knew what Leonard was thinking.

'I know what you want Anatole, but you're not going to get it as long as I'm alive. You will never get the chance to ruin the RDF. It will be a cold day in Hell before you will ever become commander of the RDF.'

Leonard also kept a neutral look to his face but he knew exactly what Admiral Gloval was thinking.

'We shall see Henry. We shall see. I'm just waiting for you to put the noose around your own neck and for you to slip up. And when you do, I will show you and everyone how a military is really run by a real military man. Not by a weak spineless jellyfish.'

Everyone knew the history between Admiral Gloval and General Leonard. Both men are Russian, served in the Russian military and at one time, were friends. But when the Global Civil War first started, Admiral Gloval swore allegiance to the UN and the Internationalists, while Leonard kept his allegiance to his mother country and the Russian Federation. Leonard never forgave Admiral Gloval for what Leonard thought was desertion of his mother country in the time of need. Admiral Gloval tried to explain to his one time friend that the ideas of the UN and the Internationalists must be kept and is worth fighting for but Leonard wouldn't listen. After the SDF-1 crash landed on Macross Island and the RDF was formed, Leonard wanted to command the SDF-1 but was passed over in favor of Admiral Gloval because Admiral Gloval not only searched the SDF-1 after it crash landed but he had naval experience when Leonard didn't Leonard served in the Russian Army. That only fueled the rivalry between the one time friends because Leonard thought Admiral Gloval talked the UEG into giving him command of the SDF-1, which wasn't true.

"I'm sorry that I'm late, Henry. My driver had difficulty finding a parking space."

:"Just take a seat General Leonard so we can get started with this meeting!"

Bruised by Gloval's sudden and loud put down, Leonard took a seat at the end of the conference table with Emerson sitting near Leonard.

"Let's get this meeting started with the CASREP."

Claudia stood up where she was sitting. "Sir, preliminary reports have our causalities at 300 KIA, 1,200 WIA and 0 MIA. The majority of our wounded suffered burn wounds. The rest suffered wounds from shrapnel, flying debris and enemy munitions. The majority of the wounded were evacuated to the base hospital. The most serious of the burned were sent to burn centers at Macross City General, Monument City Memorial and Saint Agnes at General City. The casualty affairs section of J-1 is working with the base chaplain's office in notifying the next of kin. The preliminary civilian reports I've received from civil defense and the emergency management people at Macross City puts the civilian casualty figures at 30 dead, 100 wounded and 5 people missing. Macross City General is treating the majority of the wounded. Macross City Police reported incidents of minor looting but they were quickly arrested. The Macross City Fire Department reports homes were damaged by fire but nothing major."

"Thank you Claudia, now what about the base itself?"

Vanessa stood up. "I have that report sir. All the runways at the airfield suffered damage from the attack with runway 5 suffering the most damage by crater damage from bombs. Base engineers began repairing the damage just as soon as the attack was over. Repairs should be completed by this evening. Many of the base housing and offices were either completely destroyed by the attack or suffered structural damage bad enough that it has been condemned. The base chaplain's office is working with the Red Cross in finding temporary housing for the displaced. Many of the offices here on the base are on generator power but base engineers and Macross Power should have the electricity back on to the base and the city by this evening."

"That is good news indeed, Vanessa. What is the status on our aviation squadrons, Commander Hunter?"

"Sir, every fighter, reconnaissance, helicopter and support squadrons report that they did suffered damage to buildings, aircraft are either heavily damaged or destroyed, and personnel either killed or wounded. Despite that, all squadrons report that do have sufficient numbers of aircraft and personnel available. Their operational status is green and they are waiting further instructions from you."

"That is wonderful news Rick. Lisa, do you have the intelligence briefing?"

"Yes sir. Signal and satellite intelligence and intelligence from human sources placed Khyron's base of operations somewhere in the Amazonian jungle. Exactly where the base of operations was, intelligence does not know but they are working on finding out the exact location. RDF Intelligence reports that the majority of the Zentraedi rebels fled to the Amazon, while a smaller number went to the Black Forest area of Germany. Those were the few places on Earth that was untouched by Dolza's attack several years ago. RDF Intelligence unsuccessfully tried for years to insert friendly Zentraedi into the Zentraedi rebel group but couldn't because of fear of reprisals."

"Does RDF Intelligence know exactly where the Zentraedi rebels are?"

"No sir. But RDF Intelligence thinks that the base of operations in the Amazon is somewhere in the heart of the Amazon jungle in Brazil. The German base of operations is in the Black Forest area of southern Germany near the German and Swiss Alps."

"I see. Exedore, how long will it take for us to build the SDF-3?"

"The schematics and blueprints for the SDF-2 were not destroyed in Khyron's attack. If we build it on Earth, it should only take us 3 years. If we do at the factory satellite and taking into account the weightlessness of space it will take us 5 to 6 years."

"Pardon me for interrupting, Admiral Gloval. But what are you going to do about the Zentraedi rebels?" Leonard asked bluntly in a condescending tone of voice.

"I was just getting to that, General Leonard. How many men do you think you will need to finally put the Zentraedi rebellion down?"

Leonard thought for a moment. "For the Amazon, I will need at least 2 divisions. For the German operation, I think only one division is needed. I will command the South American operation and Colonel Emerson will command the European operation."

"Rolf? He is only a colonel and he has never commanded in the field. He was always been a staff officer!"

"Then give him a temporary promotion to brigadier general. As for never commanding troops in the field, think of this as a learning experience."

"Absolutely not I will accept your hare brained suggestion!"

As Admiral Gloval and General Leonard were doing their shouting match and were glaring at each other, Maistroff was thinking. After a while, he cleared his throat.

"Admiral Gloval, I think it's time we take a break. Calm ourselves down."

"Good idea General Maistroff. 15 minute break everyone."

Maistroff walked over to Lisa. "Captain Hayes, will you come with me please?"

"Yes sir."

Maistroff and Lisa walked outside the conference room where they found Admiral Gloval fuming over what Leonard tried to do.

"What is that idiot trying to do? Is he trying to get people killed?"

"Henry, I think I have a way to put an end to this disagreement."

"What's that, Jonas?"

"Put me in charge of the European operation and have Forsythe be my chief of staff."

"You can't be serious! Jonas, you haven't commanded troops in the field for years! The last time you commanded troops in the field was before you became my XO on the SDF-1 and it was a brigade."

"So, a division is a brigade only with several hundred more men."

"Then who will be my chief of staff?"

Maistroff pointed his finger at Lisa. "She will by my replacement."

Lisa's jaw dropped at the mention of her name. "Me?"

"Why not you Lisa? You and Admiral Gloval has been a team on the bridge of the SDF-1 for years. Just keep her at captain or give a temporary flag promotion to commodore to her. Henry, I know land warfare tactics. I know how to lead men in combat. Good grief, Henry I commanded troops in the Global Civil War and in Desert Storm. If you don't put me in charge of the European operation, you will have no choice but to give Emerson command of the operation. Do you really want Emerson to be in charge of the European operation?"

"Jonas, I hate to loose you as my chief of staff, but I see your point. You are correct. I give you command of the European operation. How long do you think it will take to put a division together and when will they be combat ready?"

"If we push them really hard, I will say a month. If we don't push too hard, I would say a month and a half to two months."

"How do we work this operation?"

"We can fly troops in to a forward operating base just outside the Black Forest and we can go on from there. But I will need better intelligence before I can start any kind of planning."

Admiral Gloval turned to Lisa. "Lisa, you heard him."

"Yes sir. I'll have Sammie work on getting General Maistroff the intelligence."

Admiral Gloval looked at his watch. "Let's go back in everyone. I know Anatole will not like what I will tell him, but frankly, I don't care. That's his problem."

Admiral Gloval, General Maistroff and Lisa walked back in the conference room.

"Anatole, I am giving you command of the South American operation. However, General Maistroff will command the European operation."

General Leonard kept a blank expression on his face but inside, he was seething. 'One of these days Henry. You'll pay for that.'

"How long will it take you to get the divisions ready for combat, Anatole?"

"If we push the training real hard, I will say a month. If we don't push the training too hard, a month and a half to two months."

"Where can we put a forward base of operation?"

"For South America, we can put a forward base of operations at Howard AFB in Panama. It is a former U.S. Air Force base in Panama that was closed when the U.S. turned control of the Panama Canal to Panama. For Europe, we have three choices. The first place is the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. The second is the former U.S. Army headquarters in Heidelberg, Germany. The third choice is the former U.S. European Command headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany."

"We will cross that bridge when we reach it. Anything else you need to discuss, Jonas and Anatole?"

"We will need better intelligence before we can start any king of planning," Leonard said.

"I've tasked Captain Hayes and LT. Porter to give you the intelligence you need."

"We will need to discuss air support Henry." Maistroff said.

"I agree." Leonard said.

"Both of you will need to talk with Commander Hunter about that. Before we can do any kind of military operation, we need to know if Panama and either Belgium or Germany will allow us to use their country as our base of operation."

Claudia spoke up. "Sir, I will go to Panama and talk with the President of Panama "

"Very good Claudia, take either Vanessa with you."

"I will go to Europe, Admiral Gloval." Lisa said.

"Thank you Lisa, take Kim with you while Sammie will stay behind to work on the intelligence."

"Yes sir. Admiral, I have one request."

"What's that, Captain Hayes?"

"I would like Commander Hunter to be my pilot."

Admiral Gloval flashed a knowing smile. "It is granted, Captain Hayes."

Rick smiled to himself and his heart was soaring when Admiral Gloval approved Lisa's request for Rick to be her pilot.

"When do you want us to leave, Admiral Gloval?"

"We have to go through UEG channels to the appropriate government. I am hoping that you can leave tomorrow at the latest."

Admiral Gloval looked around the table. "Does anyone else have questions, comments or suggestions?" No one spoke up. "Then this meeting is adjourned." Everyone stood up at attention as Gloval, Exedore and Maistroff left the room.

Outside of the conference room as Leonard and Emerson walked out of the conference room to their car, Leonard talked to Emerson. "Mark my words Rolf one of these days, Gloval will slip up. How dare he not listen to me?"

"But you have to admit he is right about me leading the operation general. I have never led troops in the field as a senior officer."

"But that doesn't mean you can't Rolf. You graduated from West Point for God's sake! You were in command of a company."

"It was a combat support company sir."

"But at least you have led Rolf. Don't sell yourself short."

"I'm not sir. I'm just saying that General Maistroff is more qualified to lead than me. He led troops in combat."

"Well, it's a moot point now Rolf. I am telling you this right now; Jonas is going to screw up this operation in Germany. When he does and after I'm finished getting rid of all the Zents in the Amazon, you and I are going to clean up the mess Maistroff did in Germany. After we done with that, I am going to get the UEG to force Gloval to resign as commander of the RDF. After that, I'm getting rid of Gloval's Zents, especially Breetai and Exedore. The RDF should only have humans serving in it. After I'm done with that, I'm getting rid of all his cronies, especially that fashion model Barbie doll, Lisa Hayes and her flyboy boyfriend. Did you see them fawning over each other in the conference room? It was disgusting! There should be a regulation against fraternization between officers!"

"Sir you can't be serious! They're two mature consenting adults. I didn't see them doing anything illegal. What happens between the two of them is their business and is none of our concern! They weren't doing anything that is against regulation."

"It breaks down military order and discipline, Colonel! Didn't you learn that at West Point? When I become the commander of the RDF, I'm going to show everyone how a military should be run by a real military man."

Emerson didn't say anything. 'How did I ever have gotten myself involved with this misogynic, xenophobic ego manic?'

Everyone walked out of the conference room, but Rick stayed behind. Lisa sensed that Rick wanted to tell her something, so she stayed behind also.

"Why did you ask Admiral Gloval for me to be your pilot on your diplomatic mission? Do you want to keep an eye on me?" Rick asked with a smile on his face as he was resting his back against a wall.

"I just wanted someone who just happens to be the best pilot in the RDF to fly me around." Lisa answered with an innocent look on her face and tone in her voice. She then walked over to where Rick was standing and put her arms around Rick's neck. Rick then wrapped his arms around Lisa's small waist.

"Oh that I am Captain Hayes." Rick said as he began to kiss Lisa.

Lisa met Rick and soon they began kissing. After a while, they broke off their kiss tenderly.

"I love you, Lisa."

"I love you too."

"Always?"

"Always."