Well, not much to say really. Hope you like it, and no beta so feel free to PM me with any boo boos and I will fix them. Going to be busy the next few days so I may have rushed this a little. Hope it's not too outrageous. Onward and upward…
The metal tip of the gun barrel pressed tightly against her forehead was cold to the touch, but what really chilled Sue to the bottom of her soul was the hard ice in Rick's eyes. She'd seen Rick in all sorts of moods during her time as his official videographer, from happiness to worry to downright fury, but never before had she seen such an absence of warmth and feeling in his eyes. Not even during Lisa's memorial service.
Her hands clenched into tight fists as she tried to find something of the Rick Hunter she loved in those eyes. She peered as deeply as she could into those blue orbs but could find nothing but contempt, loathing and emptiness.
"You're not going to shoot me, Rick," she said softly, though her voice betrayed her uncertainty with an obvious waver of tenor. She cleared her throat with a small cough and made her eyes water. "I know you won't."
"Rick?" whispered Max worriedly from behind Rick.
Sue ignored Sterling's cautionary plea to Rick and remained focused on his eyes. They're blank. Damn it, Rick…I know you feel something! You have to be in there somewhere. I know it!
Sue blinked to release the built up and nearly overflowing tears from her eyes. "What are you going to do, Rick? Kill me?"
Rick's eyes narrowed for a second, then he gave her a slow nod and when he spoke his voice was like an Arctic breeze across her face. "If you don't tell me where she is right now, then yes, that's exactly what I'm going to do."
As if to emphasize just how frank he was about that, his fingers flexed around the grip of the gun and he pushed it a little harder against her forehead.
"Rick," she pleaded in a strangled whisper.
"Let's work it out, Commander," said Rick with narrowed eyes and a voice of steel. "You can tell me where she is right now and live to face justice for your many crimes." His head tilted an inch to the right and his voice held a macabre tone he added, "Or you don't tell me and I pull this trigger."
"She doesn't have time for you to find her, Rick," she pointed out more sharply than she'd meant to. Sue reined in her frustration, anger and fear and said more calmly, "She's out of time."
A striking smile came to Rick's lips and when he spoke his voice was sure and filled with pride. "My Lisa is a strong, resourceful and incredible woman who has survived situations that she had no business living through. My Lisa has faced down full-sized Zentraedi, the Invid and many other dangers that would make most people shake in their boots. My Lisa will hold on and wait for me to save her," he leaned in a little closer to her and proudly added, "because I love her, Commander, and if there's one thing I've learned during my life, it's that loving that woman and keeping her safe from whatever dares to try to harm her is what I was born to do."
He was calling her bluff and whether he knew it or not, he was holding all the cards. Her carefully laid plan was coming apart at the seams. All her hard work had been blown out of the airlock, all her sacrifices had been in vain, and at that sickening realization her breathing quickened and her stomach heaved in fear and disgust.
"Why?" she asked as her shoulders slumped in defeat. She stared deeply into his eyes again and still couldn't find any of the man she so desperately craved. "Why couldn't you love me?"
Rick shook his head and for the first time since their conversation had begun there was something like pity in his voice. "Because I love her, Sue. I have for as long as I can remember and I will as long as I can still draw a breath." He shrugged his shoulders and added, "I'll even love her after that."
Lisa! Lisa! Lisa! chanted Sue to herself. Why didn't I just kill her? Why? Why is she so special? Why? Why? Why? Lisa! Lisa! She's going to pay for this! If it's the last thing I do she'll pay for keeping Rick from me!
She saw the door open and Miriya Sterling step inside, and Sue knew by the excited and smug look on the Zentraedi's face that they'd figured it out.
Harry Prentice rocked back and forth as much as the uncomfortable chair would allow, which wasn't much, to try to contain the tremendous amount of nervous energy flowing through his veins. It was a one piece metal contraption that was bolted to the floor so it couldn't be used as a weapon, which was silly considering there was a cabinet full of weapons on the wall behind him. Yes, it was locked by a digital combination lock, but still.
The left side of his face was seriously smarting, even though he couldn't for the life of him remember what had happened. One minute he was being the butt of some good natured ribbing from Cather and the next moment he was waking up with the concerned face of Sgt. Tanaka above him.
Then General Sterling had appeared and announced out of the blue that Admiral Hunter was alive and that the prisoner he'd been guarding had kidnapped her.
He shook his head and tried to keep focused on the task at hand.
As if inspired by that thought, the panel beeped indicating and incoming transmission. He pressed the appropriate button and a moment later Dr. Grant's face appeared on the screen. Before he could even begin to audibly answer the call she was yelling at him.
'Harry! Tell the Sterlings she's on the MED moon! Lisa is on the MED moon, Harry! Tell them now!'
Harry felt a warm burst of adrenaline and he jumped up out of the chair without closing the channel, vaulted over the desk and bolted through the door. It took him only a moment to get to where Cather and Miriya Sterling were waiting outside of Graham's cell, but it felt like an hour.
"General Sterling!" he exclaimed as he ran up to her. "Dr. Grant just called and told me to tell you that Admiral Hunter is on the MED moon."
Miriya's face went blank and her voice was dubious at best. "Are you sure that's what she said, Corporal?"
He nodded emphatically. "She said to tell the Sterlings that Lisa is on the MED moon, ma'am."
Sterling immediately reached for the door and entered the cell. He shared a look with Cather who shrugged his shoulders and then followed her inside. Not wanting to be left out of the party, he followed Cather.
Miriya came to a halt a few feet inside the door and took in the situation. Graham was standing near her bed facing the door, with Rick standing in front of her pointing a gun at her head. A quick glance to the left showed her Max, looking at Rick with deep concern. To Rick's right and a few feet from him stood an anxious looking and unarmed Tanaka. As she took another step into the room she heard Cather and Prentice come in behind her, one taking up station on either side of her.
"Rick," she announced in a clear voice that seemed to resonate throughout the room. "We know where she is."
Graham's nostrils flared in anger and her eyes glared daggers at Miriya, but she ignored it and said, "She's on the MED moon, Rick. Jean figured it out."
Max turned to look at her and his eyes widened, asking her with that simple look if it was true and not some attempt to bluff Graham or keep Rick from killing her. In response she smiled and nodded her head, and by doing so she missed the murderous flash in the hazel eyes of Sue Graham.
Sue's heart was hammering in her chest so hard it felt like it was trying to escape the agony encompassing her by Rick's rejection and hatred. Rick was pointing a gun at her head and she believed he was on the verge of shooting her. Her Rick would never do that. Her Rick would never even consider doing it. Her Rick would have realized just how much she had done to be with him.
But this Rick? This Rick Hunter wasn't the man she'd fallen so head over heels in love with.
Because of Lisa.
Lisa! Lisa! Lisa! she chanted internally.
And now they knew where she was. Whatever leverage she'd had was gone. All her plans had been laid waste. All her hopes had turned to ash in her stomach. There was nothing left for her except...
…revenge.
Make Lisa pay! her inner voice growled in feral rage. Make her pay! Make her pay!
She waited and watched Rick, waiting for the opportunity that she knew would come. Her eyes darted about the room, calculating distances and odds and formulating a plan that would let her escape.
Push him that way…kick…bang, bang…take the vet out first then the youngster. Gotta move fast.
Then it happened. The tension seemed to simply vanish from Rick's shoulders and the arm holding his weapon began to slowly lower. It was pointed at her chest when she made her move, reaching over to grab the gun with both hands out of Rick's loosened grip while simultaneously thrusting her left leg outward and upward to catch the waiting Tanaka flush in the face and sending her back into the metal bulkhead with a sickening crunch.
With the gun now in her right hand, she drove her left hand into Rick's chest, pushing the shocked Admiral backwards into Max Sterling who had moved to aid his friend. Both men crashed hard to the floor in a tangle of arms and legs and muffled profanities.
She was just raising her weapon towards Cather's position when she heard a pop from where he was standing and felt a blistering pain in her left arm just above her elbow. She pulled the trigger and despite the pain his shot had caused her aim was true. Her shot caught him square in the chest, sending him collapsing to the floor in an unmoving heap. There was another bang and she felt and heard the bullet whiz by her right ear. She ducked as another shot flew by where her head would have been if she hadn't moved, then she took aim at Prentice and fired. Her shot hit him in the right side of his chest, sending him into a spiraling spin that sent him out the door and onto the floor out in the hall.
She jumped up and ran past Rick and Max, who were still thrashing about on the floor trying to untangle themselves from each other, and made it to the front of the room just in time to push the muzzle of her weapon against the top of Miriya Sterling's head as she'd crouched down to retrieve Cather's abandoned weapon.
"Drop it," growled Sue breathlessly. She didn't wait two seconds before she pushed the gun harder against the green haired head and shouted, "Now!"
A moment later the gun clattered against the deck. Sue moved her gun away from Miriya's head but kept it pointed in that direction, then stepped away from her towards the door. She glanced over to Rick and Max to find them both up and staring at her, not daring to make a move knowing all too well that she had nothing left to lose.
"Get up and move over towards them," Sue ordered and Miriya obeyed, slowly rising up from her position and then walking towards the men until she was next to them. Sue kept her weapon trained on the Zentraedi the whole way. Still pointing her gun in Miriya's direction, she stepped over to where Cather's weapon rested on the deck and placed her foot on it, then kicked backwards sliding the gun along the floor and out the door into the hall.
She looked up in time to see Rick take a step towards her and she jumped closer to the door while moving the gun to point in his direction. She pointed the gun at Rick's chest and desperately tried to keep her arms from shaking, but her left arm hurt so badly she simply couldn't keep the gun from wavering a bit.
"Put the gun down, Commander," said Rick, his voice calm and steady. "You have nowhere to go and I know you won't hurt me."
Sue gave Rick a kind smile as she lowered her weapon a few inches. "No," she whispered with blatant adoration, "I love you. I could never, ever hurt you." Rick started to reach for the gun but Sue tightened her grip on the weapon, and before he could react she whipped it up and to her right to find a new target: Miriya's head. "But I have no problem with shooting that bitch."
Rick froze and after a moment slowly retracted his hand. Sue backed away, keeping her weapon pointed in Miriya's direction while keeping her eyes focused on Rick's, knowing without a doubt that he wouldn't risk doing anything that could harm the Zentraedi.
She finally made it out into the hall and stopped. She took one last look at the man she loved, the man she had sacrificed so much for, the man she had done so much for and smiled. "Good-bye, Rick." She reached over and grabbed the door, and as she shut it she whispered, "I'll always love you."
She slammed the door closed and backed up until her back hit the far wall. She listened to them as they pounded on the door in a vain effort to get out and she could hear Rick shouting at her, but she couldn't make out what he was saying. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she looked down to Prentice laying at her feet in a pool of his own blood. She bent down and retrieved the keys of the cuffs from his belt, and when she'd freed herself from them she dropped the restraints and keys onto his back. She spared Prentice one more look, silently commending him on getting two shots off, both of which really should have hit her. What was even more remarkable was that he'd had to worry about an Admiral and a General being in his line of fire. The kid could have been good.
She shook her head to clear it, then took Tanaka's gun in her left hand and hissed in pain as her right hand gently covered the wound on her arm. She didn't have time to dwell on it though. She jogged out the hall and into the main area, moving her gun around the room in case any of the other security personnel had returned, but she found the room empty. She quickly marched over to the main computer and accessed the secure Fleet Intelligence server with one of the dummy codes she'd installed and found the virus she'd had developed.
With no hesitation whatsoever, she typed in the commands that activated the virus, plunging not only the Brig but the whole ship into darkness.
Sue looked into the deep blackness surrounding her and quietly counted down. "Three…two…one…now."
On cue the emergency lights flickered on, chasing away some of the darkness and creating shadows that gave the room an eerie feeling. Sue picked the gun up off the console and checked the ammo level, then started towards the door. She paused at the door and gave one last forlorn look to where Rick was, then she ran into the darkened corridor and turned right. She recalled the route she'd memorized in her mind, the quickest and most direct route to the area of the ship that would be holding her means of getting even with Lisa Hayes: the hangar deck.
The door slammed shut and Rick launched himself at it, striking it with his hands and screaming, "SUE! SUE OPEN THIS DOOR! SUE! IF I GET A HOLD OF YOU I'LL KILL YOU! DO YOU HEAR ME SUE? SUE! SUE!"
Rick continued to beat on the door with his hands, throwing in a kick every few seconds for good measure but to no avail.
"Rick!" shouted Max. "Stop! Rick, stop it! You're only going to hurt yourself! Rick!"
Finally Rick stopped his assault on the unmovable door and took a step back from it, his chest heaving and fists clenching and unclenching. A few more seconds passed before his rational mind could reassert itself, and with it the gravity of the situation became all too clear.
He reached over and put his right hand flat against the door, and as he hung his head he whispered, "She's going to kill Lisa, Max. She's going to kill her and I…I can't do a thing about it."
It was then that something in the left side of his peripheral vision caught his attention. He straightened up and looked down with sad eyes and a breaking heart to the lifeless body of Sergeant Fred Cather. A good man, thought Rick with a heavy heart. Another good person dead because of me and what I didn't do.
A pain filled wail made his head snap to the back of the cell where Max and Miriya were crouched next to Tanaka.
"Easy, Akiko," Max was saying as Rick approached them. Max looked up to him with worry filled eyes and said, "She needs to get to the Infirmary."
Rick nodded and tried to think, but when the lights went out a moment later all he could do was say, "What now?"
The emergency lights flickered into service and Rick, Max and Miriya shared a concerned look.
"It has to be her," Rick said softly and unnecessarily, for Max and Miriya were thinking the same thing.
There was a soft thump in the darkness that caused Rick to look towards the door. A moment later there was a click and Rick vaulted towards the door, expecting Sue to appear and try to convince him once again to submit to her lunacy.
The door opened just as he got there, but instead of Sue Graham holding a gun at him he found Harry Prentice leaning against the right side of the frame, blood soaking the entire upper half of his uniform.
Rick managed to banish his surprise enough to be able to catch Prentice as he collapsed into the room. He held onto the young man, noticing his shallow breathing and instantly feeling the Corporal's blood soak into his own uniform. Max appeared beside them and nodded to Rick, then the two men lowered Prentice to the deck with care and reverence.
When they had Prentice laid on his back, Rick leaned over to talk to him, but before he could say a word Prentice's bloody right hand shot out and grabbed Rick's hand in a strong grip.
"Corporal?" asked Rick who somehow managed to keep his voice from cracking.
Blood trickled out of the corner of Prentice's mouth and when he spoke his voice was heavy and thick. "Go…sir…" he said between heavily labored breaths. "Go…get …her."
Rick gave to young man what he needed, a resolute nod and a smile. "You bet, Corporal." Rick's free hand patted Harry's shoulder. "Rest easy, Harry. Help will be here soon."
Prentice nodded and after a quick glance to Max, Rick rose from the floor and ran out the door and down the dimly lit hallway. He found the main area empty, of course, as he knew Sue would be long gone. He was just about to run into the corridor when a voice stopped him.
"Rick!"
He turned and watched Miriya emerge from the hallway leading to the cells.
"I will call for help," she said as she came to a stop before him. She glanced at the comm. and added, "If I can." She held out her hand and said, "You will need this."
Rick looked to her hand and nodded grimly. As he took the weapon from her hand Miriya said, "Go save her."
Rick nodded and bolted out the door and came to an abrupt halt. Think, Hunter, think. If I were Sue what I do? Only one way off the ship…hangar bay! He turned left and then right, recalling the schematics of the ship that had been his home for so long, then turned and started running down the corridor to the right as fast as his legs could carry him.
Sue punched in the override code to emergency bulkhead thirty-one baker and waited for it to open. The process was agonizingly slow, just as the other three had been. In the next corridor she would retrieve a stashed bag from a floor level air vent that she'd put there days ago. She'd tried to imagine where she'd be when the time had come, and while she'd desperately hoped she would have been in her quarters after making love to Rick, she'd been well aware that there would be the possibility that she would be in the brig. So she'd stashed one bag here, and another in corridor fifteen tango near her quarters and another in corridor twenty-six kilo near Fleet Intelligence, just in case.
She slipped through the half open hatchway and ran to the vent, kicking it in and then reaching down to pull the damaged grate from the opening. She crouched down and reached in with her right arm, then winced and stifled a cry when her left arm automatically tried to reach up to brace herself against the wall. She lowered her wounded arm and gently placed her head against the wall to act as a brace as her hand continued to search for the bag.
"Come on," she whispered. Finally her hand found the leather bag and she pulled it from the wall. The first thing she pulled out was a fully loaded weapon and placed it on the floor next to her, then she tossed Tanaka's weapon into the vent opening. The next thing she removed was little goodie used by undercover Fleet Intelligence officers, a device lovingly called by those who used it an 'open sesame box'. It was a box only about one inch by one inch and the width of a quarter inch, and all that needed to be done to open secured doors- like emergency bulkheads- was place the box on the door's control panel and press it. The gizmo would then interface with the access panel and open the door, linking with whatever security system was involved or bypassing it altogether if necessary. It was a lot faster than punching in code after code for each door.
She stopped and tilted her head towards the opened bulkhead, listening for any sign of pursuit, and when she heard none she looked back into the bag and took out a flashlight.
Sue's arms fell to her sides and she sighed. She was tired and devastated by Rick's attitude and actions towards her. Why am I even running? she asked herself, but the answer was swift and deadly. To kill Lisa.
Sue took a deep breath, and then picked up the OSB, flashlight and fully loaded gun. She gingerly got to her feet and started to move towards the next bulkhead, her flashlight illuminating the way and mind focused on her objective.
Rick jumped through the opened bulkhead and brought up solid at the sight before him. Two bodies lay on the floor, one in the middle of the hallway four feet in front of him and the other several feet beyond it and huddled against the left wall. He slowly approached them, glancing down the hall to make sure Sue wasn't lingering around, and paused by the first body. Rick didn't recognize him, but he wore an Engineering uniform and had a bullet hole in his head. Rick moved on and stopped by the next body that he recognized as one of Amanda Fraser's flower buds, Tori Hogan. Rick felt tears sting his eyes at the sight of her wide open and lifeless eyes staring up at him, but he forced them away as he moved forward, swearing to himself once more that Sue Graham would pay for this.
Finally! thought Sue as she rounded the corner and ran into the hallway that led to the secondary hangar deck. She knew the deck and the valuable cargo inside would be guarded, but she had the element of surprise and the determination to fulfill her task.
She ran up to the security door, checked her weapon and then placed the OSB on the access panel. She pushed on it and waited, then stepped back and raised her weapon as the door began to open. She stepped inside and, without a second thought, shot the sentry on duty in the chest before turning her weapon towards the others on the deck.
"Everyone out!" she shouted as she moved off to the left and motioned towards the opened door. "MOVE!"
The engineers moved quickly, casting nervous glances and curious looks in her direction. The security officers moved more slowly, no doubt looking for an opportunity to take her out, but she kept her guard up and her weapon pointed in their direction as they moved by. When the last person left, she closed the door knowing full well that it wouldn't lock, then slowly backed away towards the instrument of her salvation: the prototype Shadow fighter.
She'd been keeping up with its progress and knew that it was fully operational, with several flights in the book s with no discernible issues with performance. It was the perfect getaway vehicle. Fully armed and ready to go, its Shadow tech would render it all but invisible to the radars of Tirol and any patrols that would be out there.
She stopped when she reached the ladder, then tossed the OSB and flashlight to the floor. She reached up with her left arm to grab the ladder but had to drop it again as well as stifle a yelp of pain. She moved the gun to her left hand and took a hold of the ladder with her right hand and slowly proceeded up towards the cockpit. It took her longer than she'd liked to get in, but once inside she tossed the gun over the side and put on the helmet that had been resting on the edge of cockpit. She began the preflight sequence, including powering up the engines and closing the canopy, then waited for the green light to leave. The hangar doors were closed of course, but that was nothing that a missile couldn't solve. She taxied the Shadow fighter into position and armed the weapons system, acquired her target and fired.
The hangar door disappeared in a spectacular explosion and the emergency magnetic field kept the bay pressurized. She threw the throttle forward, and because she was so eager to leave the hell that the SDF-3 had become and so focused on getting to Lisa, she missed seeing Rick run into the hangar bay.
Rick ran up to the door, not even bothering to acknowledge any of the shouts of warning from the security personnel in the hallway, and tried it. He was surprised it opened for him, but he banished the shock and ran into the hangar just in time to see the Shadow fighter taxi into take off position.
He stopped and glared at the pilot, willing her to turn and see him. When she didn't look at him, Rick's hand clenched tighter around the handle of his gun and he raised it to aim at the canopy. Just as he was about to fire the fighter blasted out of the ship and into the blackness of space.
"Admiral Hunter?"
Rick lowered his weapon, then turned towards the source of the voice to find the one man he truly wanted to see right at that moment.
Rick jammed the gun underneath the top edge of his pants on his right hip, then grabbed the man by the shoulders and said, "Chief," he pointed with his right hand towards the door that joined the secondary and main hangar bays. "Get that door open now."
The chief was an old hand and knew enough to do what Rick Hunter said, so it was without a word and with a speed that shouldn't have been possible for someone of his age that he ran to the door and pried the access panel open. Thirty seconds later, they had access to the main hangar bay. The chief ran into the hangar while the door was still opening, and by the time Rick marched through the door the chief had the nearest Alpha's engines spooling up.
Without an ounce of hesitation Rick sprinted up the ladder and jumped into the cockpit. A helmet appeared out of nowhere before him, and as he took the red and white helmet in his hands he glanced over and gave the chief an appreciative nod.
"Get as many Alphas out there as you can, Chief," said Rick as he put the helmet on. He began the pre flight startup and added, "Get them out there and have them secure a perimeter around the ship and send some to the MED moon."
Rick was just about to reach over to push the button to close the canopy, but the chief reach over and grabbed his hand. When Rick looked up the chief nodded grimly and said, "Good hunting, sir."
The chief disappeared before Rick could respond. He closed the canopy and waited for the chief to get the hangar doors open, his hand twitching to push the throttle forward and his heart beating so fast he was worried it might take off without him. He didn't know how the chief did it with no power, but the doors finally opened and Rick wasted not one more second in getting the Alpha through it, nearly shearing the tips of both wings off in his haste.
He pointed the Alpha in the direction of the MED moon and jammed the throttle forward for maximum thrust giving him the speed of three thousand, two hundred-fifty kilometers an hour.
He just hoped it would be fast enough.
Lisa walked back and forth as much as the chain attached to her leg would allow. It wasn't much, of course, but any movement was welcomed and necessary to keep her loose and to keep her from getting stiff and sore.
She turned and walked the few steps back to wall, then turned around and did the walk again, still giving thought to the layout of her bridge. She'd been very adamant when the SDF-3 had been constructed about how to lay out the stations, but since then she'd come to realize that having the comm. station where it was simply wasn't practical.
She reached down as she passed by the water bottle pile and plucked one out of the container. She opened it and took a generous gulp, then resealed the bottle and chewed her bottom lip as she visualized her bridge.
Maybe if we move the…
The thought vanished and Lisa braced herself against the wall with her right hand as the cave shook violently.
"What the hell?" she softly asked. She leaned as far as she could towards the entrance to the cave and listened, and after a few moments she heard a noise that she would recognize anytime and anywhere: an approaching, low and fast flying aircraft.
The plane roared towards the cave, and Lisa had to once against ride out a mini tremor caused by the plane's wake.
Lisa took a deep breath and tried to push down the anxiety that threatened to rise from her stomach as the plane touched down beyond the mouth of the cave, in Guardian mode according to the sound change of the afterburners and the soft thump.
'Oh, Admiral?'
Lisa! Lisa! Lisa!
Sue's lips quivered with anger and anticipation as she entered the atmosphere surrounding the MED moon. She'd chosen an insertion point near the cave, and hit the afterburners as she passed over it just to give Lisa a little shake. She laughed and brought the Shadow fighter around in a tight turn, smiling widely as the G-forces pushed and pulled on her body in exhilarating ways. She zoomed over the cave again and pushed the control button that would change her fighter into Guardian configuration.
She brought the Guardian mode Shadow fighter to a soft stop beyond the mouth of the cave, then maneuvered the craft around so that her fighter was pointing north and she could see the cave's entrance out the front of her canopy.
She's in there, thought Sue bitterly. Lisa is in there. Lisa! Lisa! Why, Rick? Why? Why is she so special?
Sue edged the Guardian forward a few feet and then let the ship slowly descend to the ground. There was the softest of jolts as the foot thrusters of the guardian met the surface of the moon, but Sue didn't even feel it. Her attention was focused exclusively on the doorway to the prison of the woman that was responsible for Rick not loving her.
Make her pay! prodded the voice in her head. Sue shook her head and then said aloud, "No…make her suffer."
She reached over and pushed a series of buttons to activate the external speakers, and after turning them up on max she sweetly sang, "Oh, Admiral?"
Sue reached over and activated the thermal sensors and nearly growled when it showed her a representation of Lisa Hayes. She was standing, and according to the color variations on the screen, she was facing the mouth of the cave.
"I know you can hear me, Admiral," said Sue, her voice almost sweet and innocent sounding. "Just thought I'd come by and let you know that I've won." A tear slipped from her right eye and rolled down her cheek. "My plan worked, Admiral," she said. She would tell Lisa exactly what she'd planned to make happen, what she'd hoped would happen and make her suffer. "Rick found out about you, Hayes, and he wanted to know where you were so badly. He said he'd do anything, Admiral…absolutely anything to have you back." Sue paused to collect her thoughts and then went on, her desire to torment Lisa giving her the strength to keep her voice from betraying the truth of the matter. "Do you know what my price was, Admiral?" Sue smiled and then said somewhat facetiously, "I bet you do. Yes, Admiral, the price was for him to make love to me." Sue leaned forward in the cockpit as though she were getting right into Lisa's face. "And he did." She sat back in the seat and sighed dreamily. "It was…it was amazing, Admiral. He was so gentle and giving. But I know we can't be together. Too much has happened and I know that I have to leave, but I will be taking a piece of him with me, Admiral." Sue waited for a few heartbeats and smiled wickedly, wishing that Lisa could see her. "You see, I've been taking a drug that keeps by body in a fertile state, knowing that this would happen." Sue's smile widened and her heart jumped when the thermal representation of Lisa Hayes shook its head in disbelief. "Oh yes, Admiral," she all but sang. She reached over and touched the control that armed her missiles. A second later she could hear the telltale clangs of the missile compartments opening. "I will have his baby," Sue used her thumb to flip the protective covering off the missile trigger that resided on top of the stick and said icily, "as surely as I'm about to blow you and your child to hell."
Sue took a deep breath and released it. "Good-bye, Admiral Hayes."
She thumbed the button and sank back into the seat as though doing so had drained her of all her remaining energy. As much as she wanted to watch the missiles fly to and hit their target, she couldn't help but close her eyes and relax knowing the source of all that had gone wrong in her love life was about to die.
Rick threw his Alpha into the atmosphere at a speed and an angle of descent that the books said were impossible and suicidal. He knew more than anyone, with the possible exceptions of Max and Miriya, what Alphas were made of and the punishment they could take. The ship would shake, and it would rattle, and it would seemingly groan in protest, but it would hold together if for no other reason than Lisa needed it to.
Moments later he was proven right as the Alpha pierced the clouds and flew into the skies of the MED moon. He'd had plenty of time on the way to the moon to think about where Sue would have hidden Lisa on this big hunk of rock, and the answer to the question was really quite obvious: the cave that he and Sue had taken refuge in during the MED. There was no other option. She had to be there.
Because if that wasn't where Sue had put Lisa, then there was no chance of him finding her in time, and that simply wasn't going to happen.
He pushed the Alpha for all it was worth, approaching the cave from the west. A minute later Sue's Shadow fighter came into view to the right, in Guardian mode and facing the cave to his left.
He was almost two kilometers out when he switched to Guardian mode, complete with pulse cannon in its right hand, knowing that a showdown of some sort was inevitable with Sue Graham. He continued towards the cave and Graham, and was about to contact Sue when he saw something that made his chest almost collapse in upon his heart: the missile compartments on the Shadow fighter's legs flip open. In the blink of an eye Rick armed his own weapons systems and acquired Sue's fighter as a target. Before he could pull the trigger on the pulse cannon, the first missiles erupted from the Shadow fighter on a clear and direct course for the cave. He shifted his focus and the target acquisition scanners from Sue's Guardian to the missiles headed for Lisa's position.
Time didn't stop for Rick, but it slowed to the point where he could almost see each and every missile flying on its deadly course. Without hesitation he pulled the trigger on the leading edge of the stick to fire round after round from the pulse cannon at the missiles, all the while speeding towards them.
"Come on!" he called out anxiously. "Come on!"
He flew into the resulting cloud of dust, smoke and debris and stopped in front of the cave. He sighed and nearly sobbed in relief when he found the mouth of the cave to be intact. While he'd gotten most of the missiles, he knew he hadn't got them all and as if someone were trying to verify that thought a rock the size of a Battloid head slammed onto the port wing after falling off the rise above him.
Rick strengthened his grip on the controls and turned the Guardian so that he was facing south and keeping himself between the woman he loved and the woman who was trying to kill her.
Rick glared into the cloud and reached over to switch configurations once again. As the Alpha began to convert from Guardian mode to Battloid mode, Rick thought it over.
The Shadow fighter is superior in a lot of ways, he thought, but it comes down to experience. She doesn't have a lot of flight time, and most of what she's got is in fighter mode. If she stays in G-mode I'll have the edge in B-mode. If she goes to B-mode then I've still got the edge.
Finally the dust began to settle and the smoke started to clear. He could see Sue's plane and he knew she'd finally noticed him a moment later when he heard her exclaim over her external speakers, 'Rick!'
Lisa's experience had served her well once again. She'd heard the telltale whoosh of missiles launching and she'd dropped to her knees against the base of the wall and covered her head with her arms.
Once the shaking had settled and the dust falling from the ceiling of the cave had stopped, she looked over and thanked her lucky stars for sitting on the floor where she had been standing was a chunk of rock that would have most certainly killed her if she hadn't moved.
She coughed to clear her lungs of the dust she'd inhaled and then listened, but all she could hear was an eerie silence that was ultimately broken by Sue Graham yelling the name of her husband.
'Rick!'
"Rick?" she whispered softly, afraid to speak too loudly and hope too much that he was here. She used the wall to help herself up off her knees and onto shaky and unsteady legs. "Rick?" she repeated as the first tear slipped out of her left eye. Her right hand stayed against the wall to help brace herself and she was glad it did, for her knees nearly buckled a few heartbeats later when she heard his voice.
'I'm here, Lisa. I will see you soon, I promise.'
Lisa couldn't help but smile through the tears at the cockiness in his voice, something she'd heard far too often back in the old days at her station on the SDF-1 and many times since then in their married life.
There were times that she'd cursed him for that brash confidence, but even on the worst days she knew one thing for certain even as she knew it right now- he could always back up that swagger with his actions.
"Rick!"
He should have been back in that cell deep in the bowels of the SDF-3, but as impossible as it should have been she knew without a doubt that the person piloting the Battloid was Rick Hunter.
Then she heard his voice, and as pleasing a sound as it was what he was saying was anything but pleasant.
'I'm here, Lisa. I will see you soon, I promise.'
No! No! NO! NO! NO! NO! her mind cried as her hands tightened around the Shadow fighter's controls. She toggled the mode selector for the Shadow fighter and switched to Battloid mode as well, automatically aiming the disruptor cannon at Rick's Battloid.
Her heart was thumping in her chest and her breaths were short and rapid as though she'd just run a marathon.
'It's time to end this, Sue,' said Rick with a calm and sure voice. 'One way or another, this it is.'
Sue yanked the controls and her Battloid jumped to the right while firing its disruptor cannon. Each shot missed Rick's Battloid, as had been her intention. She smiled and laughed as the shots impacted against the hillside sending debris careening downward. She was about to fire again but Rick maneuvered his Battloid into the line of fire.
Sue hesitated, but then fired. Rick had proven that he was lost to her and Lisa was the cause of it. Lisa had to die, and if Rick wanted to try to stop her from killing Lisa, then he would have to die to. If she couldn't have him…
Two shots hit Rick's Battloid, but he'd managed to deflect the shots into near ineffectiveness using the armored shielding of the underside of the Battloid's forearms.
She cursed and had to act fast to jump out of the way to avoid his return volley of missiles. She ran her Battloid away from Rick in an easterly direction, zigging around a clump of trees and zagging around a large outcropping of rock. Several pulses from Rick's weapon zoomed past her on the left and right causing Sue to smile evilly.
Good! she thought excitedly. He's following me. She focused and turned her sprinting Battloid towards the southeast, then south, southwest and finally west in order to complete the tight circular pattern to return her to her point of origin: the cave.
She glanced to her radar as the cave came into sight and was surprised to see that there was nothing behind her. She came to a stop in front of the cave in almost exactly the same spot she'd been when she'd fired her missiles at the cave and searched her radar. Finally she found his Alpha, above her and approaching fast enough that all she could do was brace for the impact of his Battloid slamming into hers.
Sue was being jostled about so badly that she had a difficult time keeping her hands on the controls, but somehow she'd managed. She flipped Rick off of her, sending him crashing into and rolling along the ground for a hundred meters.
She got up and turned towards the cave again, raising her disruptor cannon towards the cave and preparing to fire. She managed to get off a single shot when a pulse charge knocked her cannon out of her hands and whirling away from her. She jumped back to avoid more of Rick's cannon shots and thumbed the missile trigger again, sending dozens of missiles not towards Rick, but towards the cave. She watched with rapt attention as the missiles sped away from her and towards Lisa, but her anticipation quickly soured as shot after shot from Rick's cannon obliterated her missiles before they could hit their target.
Sue growled and charged towards Rick, firing off a barrage of missiles that Rick deftly avoided by jumping and twisting and turning in the air while firing off a wave of counter measure missiles. She tackled him in midair sending them crashing to the ground. Her head jolted forward and then snapped backwards, making her see stars and for a moment make her question exactly where she was.
She shook her head and then saw Rick grab her arm just before he threw her into the hillside. Her Battloid smashed face first into the rock wall, making her see those cursed stars again and sending a coppery taste into her mouth. Her arms became rubbery and her hands slipped from the controls, relinquishing all control and allowing the Battloid to collapse lifelessly onto its back with its face pointing upwards to the sky.
Sue looked into main screen in front of her through half lidded eyes as she tried to stave off unconsciousness. She succeeded only when her eyes snapped open at the sight of a large boulder rolling down the hillside towards her. She tried to hit the afterburners to get her out of the way but by the time her wobbly hands found the throttle it was too late. The large rock slammed into the breadbasket of the Battloid causing metal, glass and wiring to collapse inward.
Sue screamed in agony as the metal tore into her body, crushing her legs and pelvic area. She clawed at the ruined screen and the surrounding cockpit with her hands in a desperate and useless attempt to escape, but she knew she was doomed.
She stopped and as her mouth filled with blood she noticed an electrical overload warning sounding in her ears. She had just enough time to cough the blood out of her mouth and whisper Rick's name before her vision exploded in a bright light and her body evaporated in a blistering heat.
Rick's mouth fell open as the Shadow fighter containing Sue Graham exploded. He remained still for a second, mourning the pleasant young woman that Sue used to be; the young woman who had impressed him with her outer and inner beauty; the young woman that he had been genuinely fond of; the young woman he had called a friend.
Rick switched his Alpha back to G-mode and lowered the nose until it touched the ground. He pressed the button to open the canopy and jumped out of the Alpha, much as he'd done all those years ago after having flown into the Grand Cannon to rescue Lisa.
He turned towards the cave and his eyes bulged open. Debris from the hillside, having been knocked loose by Sue's missiles and cannon shots, was pouring down the slope and gathering at the base of the hill.
Rick ran towards the cave, clamoring across the uneven ground without a stumble and jumped into the cave. Dust and small rocks were falling from the roof of the cave and he knew that he had to get Lisa out of there quickly.
"Lisa!"
"Rick!"
Rick ran farther into the cave and then he saw her. He stopped and soaked in the sight of her, noting the tears freely falling down her cheeks and the mile wide smile on her beautiful face.
He could have stayed there all day and just looked at her, but a particularly strong tremor and a piece of rock almost beaning him in the head reminded him that time was of the essence. He ran up to her and, after taking a moment to touch her face out of a need to verify that she was really there, he looked to her leg.
He looked back up into her eyes and said, "We need to get that off." He pulled the gun that Miriya had given him from his pants and aimed at the chain. "Ready?" he asked with a glance to her emerald eyes.
Lisa nodded and Rick wasted no time. He pulled the trigger and exhaled quickly in relief when the chain separated. He grabbed Lisa's hand and yelled, "Let's go!"
They ran hand in hand out the short tunnel and broke into the bright light of the MED day just as the mouth of the tunnel collapsed with a deafening noise and an explosion of dust and debris. They came to a stop a few feet from Rick's Alpha, both of them slightly winded but none the worse for wear.
Rick turned so that he faced his wife and noticed Lisa squinting. He dropped the gun to the ground and put his hands on her shoulders. Panic laced his voice when he asked, "Lisa?"
Lisa smiled and lifted her hands up and placed them on his cheeks. As she lovingly caressed Rick's cheeks she said, "Too bright."
Rick nodded in understanding and looked into her eyes and waited until she adjusted to the light. He tried several times to say something, but there was so much to say and he was so overwhelmed that he had to stop trying.
Finally neither he nor Lisa could hold back any longer and tears erupted from their eyes. And as had happened so many times in the past each of them knew just what the other needed.
Lisa peered into his eyes and whispered, "I'm here, Rick," just as Rick said, "I've got you, Lisa."
They shared a warm smile that ended only when Rick gently pulled Lisa towards him and pressed his lips to hers. Lisa's eyes had closed but Rick kept his eyes open as their mouths moved against each other, just to make sure that this wasn't another dream that would end in heart break. It wasn't until the tip of her tongue brushed against his lips and he felt the familiar jolt of desire it had always evoked within him, that he closed his eyes and accepted that the woman he loved was really in his arms.