Rick patiently answered Minmei's incessant questions while he surveyed their sector. He knew that the sooner he finished, the sooner he would be reunited with Lisa. He thought back to when he teased her about being jealous of Minmei.
"Are you jealous?" he asked Lisa when she still argued against bringing Minmei along.
Lisa rolled her eyes at him. She refused to attribute her objection to jealousy. She tried her best to prove to Rick that it was a bad idea to take a civilian along on a military mission.
"I was a civilian when you first sent me on my military mission," he teased.
"Rick, that was a mistake," she defended herself. "You shouldn't have been in that VT and you could have told me that you were a civilian."
"Well, you know me, I follow orders," he reminded her with a teasing smile. "Besides, who could resist you when you're in command mode?"
Lisa didn't quite understand what he meant. She could only remember being nervous since it was her first real experience of combat especially after the SDF-1 activated its defense mechanism on its own in response to the Zentraedi presence.
"Besides, I thought I could impress you by my fancy flying," he continued.
"You were trying to impress me?" She was truly confused now. All she could remember was Roy teasing her about sending a civilian into battle and Rick calling her a sourpuss.
"Yes, did I succeed?" he asked, drawing her into his arms. He leaned in and stopped short of kissing her. He waited for her response.
"I just knew you were trouble the first time I saw you fly," she admitted.
Rick smiled and knew she really meant that he had impressed her. He now closed in and kissed her.
"Alright, Minmei can come" she whispered. "But you will do everything I say on this mission, agreed?"
"I always follow your orders remember," he whispered back and continued his assault on her senses.
"Rick," Minmei interrupted him.
"What?" he replied, half-interested in Minmei at this point.
"What is that?" she asked pointing to a plume of smoke.
Rick looked at what she was pointing at and felt alarm at seeing a flare near the location where Lisa and Miriya were surveying. He ran to his VT and tried to raise them on the comm. link.
"Lisa, Miriya, what's the matter?" he yelled, receiving only a blank screen. "Minmei, let's go." He started his VT and didn't wait for her to get into the cockpit before launching. He quickly scooped her up with his VT's outstretched arm and headed to the area near the flare.
"Miriya!" Rick yelled as he jumped out of his VT. "Where's Lisa?" He scanned the area but couldn't find her. There was only drag marks around which looked like it was heading away. And the clearing was unusually big.
Miriya had just regained consciousness and trying to get up. Rick rushed to her side and tried to help her stand.
"What happened?"
"They took Lisa," Miriya managed to say. "We heard noises but before we could react, the trees attacked."
Rick listened patiently as Miriya described how the trees uprooted themselves and took her VT and Lisa. She attempted to fight back but was flung off and left unconscious. If she were a human, her bones would have been broken to pieces but her Zentraedi genetics had allowed her to survive.
"Take my ship and head back to the SDF-3," Rick ordered.
"But Admiral Hunter," Miriya protested. "You need help to rescue Admiral Hayes-Hunter. You can't fight them alone."
"I'm not crazy," he assured her. "I'm not going to fight them. Just rescue Lisa and get the hell out of here."
"I'll have Max come to help you," she told him as she headed towards his ship.
"We can't leave him here," Minmei complained as Miriya unceremoniously placed her in the seat behind her.
"Minmei! This is serious," Rick commanded her into silence. "I will be fine. I'm not leaving here without Lisa."
"I'll send Max immediately," Miriya told him.
"I'll follow the tracks," Rick motioned his heading. "Tell Max to do the same."
With that the VT took off and headed back to the SDF-3 at top speed.
Rick picked up the bag of provisions and supplies he took out of his ship and followed the tracks. He knew he had to be careful but also worried that Lisa had little time to be rescued. He hoped that she was alright and promised that he would find her. He was making good time until he followed the tracks to a dead end. He stared at the big rocky mountain in front of him. He didn't know how trees could have climbed it but decided he would start climbing it himself.
"Where do you think you're going?" a familiar voice called out to him.
"Max! You're a sight for sore eyes," Rick said and hugged his friend.
"Well, if you had waited, I would have given you a ride," Max teased. He saw how tired Rick looked from the long hike.
"Didn't want to waste time," he replied.
"Well, I don't think they climbed up," Max told him. "I flew by here and saw no entry way from above."
"There has got to be something." Rick searched the side for any sign of an entrance.
"I think they went through," Max said. "I saw the tracks from up there." He pointed to where his VT was parked.
"Then how do we get in?"
"Open sesame?" Max joked.
Rick gave him a frustrated look.
"All Miriya told me was that it is dangerous on the ground. She suggested we stay out of the reach of the trees."
Rick hated waiting but had to concede that it was their only option at the moment. He climbed up with Max to his VT and setup camp. But when it started to get dark, he got more anxious. He was contemplating how they could blast through without endangering Lisa. It didn't take long for him to consider when the rock face slid open and tree-like creatures raced out of the opening.
"What's going on?" Max asked out loud and watched the commotion.
"Get ready to fly," Rick stated, sensing the rumbling get stronger. "I think this place is going to collapse."
"But isn't Lisa inside?" Max asked the obvious.
"We're going in," Rick said without missing a beat.
Together they flew the VT and landed it beside Miriya's red VT which was stowed in the cavern.
"Lisa!" Rick yelled. "Lisa, answer me!"
"Rick, this place looks like it's about to collapse," Max said looking at the columns strain under the weight.
Rick hopped from Max's VT on to Miriya's and carefully maneuvered through the cavern with Max right behind him. They flew as far in as they could until they reached a pile of rubble.
"Rick, I'm registering something underneath that," Max said, pointing to a pile of rocks.
Rick jumped out of his VT and signaled Max to help him clear the pile. They moved rocks carefully until it didn't look like they should go further lest it collapsed completely.
"Lisa!" Rick yelled through the opening. "Lisa, please answer."
"Rick?" Lisa mumbled.
"Lisa, grab my hand," he said urgently.
Lisa reached out blindly until she felt Rick's strong hand. She drew strength from him and raised herself through the hole. Rick pulled her through and hugged her tightly.
"Rick, we need to get out of here," Max reminded him.
"Come on," Rick said and helped Lisa to her feet. She was obviously weakened and he signaled to Max to help him get her into the red VT.
With everyone safely in the two VTs, they blasted their way out of the place.
"Are you alright?" Rick asked Lisa when they were off the planet. When he didn't get a response, he flew faster and called ahead for the medics to meet him at the hangar.
Rick had barely landed when he threw open the cockpit. He looked at the limp body of his wife and gently lifted her out. He was met by the medics who rushed her to the infirmary.
"Rick, how is she?" Miriya was the first to ask him as he paced outside the emergency room.
"I don't know," Rick said, looking scared and lost.
"She'll be alright," Max tried to assure him. "She's a fighter."
Rick slumped down on the chair across the door. He clamped his hands together and thought of everyone he had lost. He refused to think that he could lose Lisa. He hoped he wasn't too late.
"Rick," Minmei's voice interrupted the solemn silence that befell the three gathered outside the emergency room. "I'm so glad to see you."
Rick ignored her and concentrated on the door across from him. He counted the seconds that passed hoping it would open and he'd see Lisa's smiling face.
"Rick?" Minmei called him again and tugged at his arm.
"Not right now," he said.
"But Rick," she insisted.
"Minmei, I said not right now," he said sternly and stood up.
"I just wanted to know if Lisa will be alright," she continued.
"She has to be," he replied, trying to assure himself than Minmei. "I can't lose her!" He hadn't felt this scared before.
"Is there anything I can do," Minmei offered, frightened by Rick's expression.
"You've done enough," he said angrily. "If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have …" He trailed off and saw Minmei start to cry. He knew she wasn't to blame. He turned away from her and stared at the door again.
"Why don't we go get some coffee?" Miriya offered to ease the tension. She felt the same guilt for being unable to protect Lisa and thought that perhaps taking Minmei away could help Rick calm down.
Minmei quietly followed Miriya to the cafeteria nearby.
"Jean! How is she?" Rick jumped up when the door finally opened.
"She's in stable condition now," Jean informed him and saw relief wash over him. "But I'm afraid she's fallen into a coma."
"What happened? Can I see her?"
"All signs show that she's alright but I can't determine what may have caused her to go into a coma. We're analyzing the organic material we found on her suit."
"Was she poisoned?" Max asked.
"No, it doesn't look to be toxic but we'll know more after some tests," Jean assured them. "Go home Rick. We'll keep an eye on her." She knew better but hoped Rick would take it as an order to head home.
"I'm not leaving her side this time," he said quietly and followed the gurney that carried Lisa to a private room. He stood by while the nurses hooked her up to monitoring devices before settling in on a chair next to her. He held her limp hand and willed her to wake up.
"How long has he been in there?" Miriya asked when she found Max.
"A while," Max said. "Where's Minmei?"
"She decided to go home than face Rick again."
"Rick is just scared," he explained.
"It was my fault," she finally said. "I should have protected her."
"It's not your fault," he assured her and gave her a quick hug. "Lisa would say the same thing when she wakes up. You'll see."