Here is the next chapter. It will have a slight time jump. There will not be any action sorry but that is coming up. There will be different points of view in this chapter. That way you know what is going on with the different characters. Hope you enjoy it.
Rick was in his fighter doing a patrol of the Proxima Centauri system. They had spent the last month around the Alpha Centauri systems. One of the things they had been doing was setting out sensors the science team had brought to study the systems. They also put out a couple sensors that the SDF-1 and her fleet could use to detect any other ships that turned up at Alpha Centauri.
They were checking out all the planets in the habitable zones to see if any of the planets could support life. The hope was that they could one day set up a colony on one of the planets. This would further secure the human races chance of surviving.
The SDF-1 and her fleet had just settled in a high orbit above the planet Proxima Centauri b. Not a lot is known about the planet but was believed it be the best chance of setting up a colony or at least a military outpost.
"Wraith 1, this is command." radioed Lisa.
"Go ahead command" replied Rick.
His and Lisa's friendship had been a little rocky, well more cold on her part since they met but got a little better since the talk in his office. They had a couple more talks were Lisa asked him more about the previous timeline, but Lisa steered clear of the relationship part of Rick's other life.
"What's your status?"
"We finished our patrol and are on our way back. We should be back with the fleet in about a hour. The cat's-eye didn't detect anything in the area of our patrol. Did any of the other long rang patrols detect anything?"
"That's a negative. You are the last one out. All others have returned safely."
Rick's flight of three veritecs and a cat's-eye had the farthest patrol. At first the Admiral didn't want to let Rick go but Rick explained that he was the most qualified in case they ran into trouble.
"Roger that we will see you all in a hour, Wraith one out."
R/L
Lisa turned to the Captain and reported "Sir, Rick reports his sector was clear. They will be back in a hour."
Captain O'Conner looked up from a report he was reading to reply. "Good, looks like for now we are all alone here. We can now let the science teams start." turning to the internal communications officer "Sammy, Let Dr. Brooke know she can start her research."
"Yes sir." replied Sammy.
Lisa turned back to her station and check the status of the CAP, while thinking of Rick. She would not say they were close friends, not yet anyway but they did get along well when they had both been invited to dinner with Claudia and Roy.
She did not know what to do about the information she learned about them being married in the old timeline. She was scared to learn anymore about their relationship. She knew if she asked Rick to tell her more he would tell her the truth. She was just scared to find out. Maybe she should talk with Claudia first. Claudia had a better grasp of relationships and seem to know Rick better.
She was brought out of her thoughts when the current CAP reported their replacements were on station and were heading for the barn.
R/L
Admiral Donald Hayes had a lot on his mind at the moment. With the SDF-1 out of the SOL system the Zentraudi fleet near Mars's orbit had broke up in smaller fleets and folded out. He was sure they were looking for the battle fortress. He knew they haven't found the SDF-1 yet since Breeti's ship was still with the main fleet.
Other then the SDF-1 and the Zentraudi he had also had to deal with the council that oversaw the RDF. He had several meetings with them on how best to deal with the new threat they now seemed to face.
Donald had been ready for this day, so he had presented a plan on increasing fleet production and planet defense. With the new plan they would increase ship production by 75%. This would speed up building time and allow them to have the Akagi's fleet finished within the next month. 6 months ahead of schedule. All the personal were trained and ready for deployment. He only had a couple of the heavy cruisers still being finished. All other ships were in space and their crews getting familiar with their new ships.
The carrier itself had been operational for 8 months. It was mostly been used for training. Rick had used it as the main training ship in space for new pilots to get use to flying in space. Though he did use the Enterprise some but the Akagi mostly to give its LSOs and flight controllers some training of their own.
With the increase of funds Donald was asking for he hoped to also increase the building of space base weapon systems that would create a defense grid around the planet. He also hoped to build several land base weapon systems to help keep Earth's sky's clear of enemy ships and fighters.
He also had a plan to build several shelters around the world. Though most shelters would be built with local government funding. He hoped that they would be able to save more lives when the "rain of death" happens again. He was under no illusion they could stop all the destruction from happening.
He was also having several air and water filtration systems built and stored in underground bunkers for when the RoD happen. The hope was once the battle was over they would be able to place the air filters with in hours of the end. This was so they could try to stop the spread of radioactive gas clouds and other poisons in the atmosphere from killing more lives and vegetation.
R/L
Breeti was in his command blister looking and the screen that showed the planet that Zor's ship appeared to have crashed on.
Turning towards his aid "Execdore, what have the scouts around the third planet report?"
"It seems that they have increased ship movements. There also seems to be an increase around the ship yards we have discovered on the far side of the planet. My guess is that our arrival as caused them a great deal of concern.
We have also detected serval ships folding in near the planet and then leaving. We have tried to get close enough for the finder beans to determine where they went but each time the scouts move closer the fleet that helped the fleet with Zor's ship, it moves to keep them away. As per your orders they did not engage the enemy. So they were forced to fall back."
"What of the second fleet near their ship yards" asked one of Breeti's senior officers.
"The fleet sizes has increased. I believe they are currently building this fleet. There are two large ships in the shipyards being built but we are not sure how far along they are due to the cyclops recon ship being destroyed when nearing the shipyards. They do not mind us watching them from a far but if we close in they move to block us.
The only ship we lost was the cyclops. It got in close to the ship yards and they scrambled several fighters. The cyclops crew did not fall back but tried to get a better reading when it was destroyed."
"What of the planet and it's inhibitive?" asked Breeti.
"It would seem that only a small portion of the population is military. They have a large portion that is non-military. They seem to have an open society. Which if this is the case we will have to proceed with caution."
Breeti was worried now. If the micronians did have an open society, it could cause issues with his men. The Zentraudi were strictly military and in the past when they have run across a society similar, many Zentraudi seem to like a chance to change their lives. This had resulted in the destruction of the whole fleet they were part of.
"Limit the number of men you have monitoring their transmissions. We will have to use caution, so that our men do not get effected by the micronians society."
R/L
Rick had returned from his long patrol and headed for his office. He needed to review the reports from the flight leader of his airwing that had done their own patrols. He then needed to do his.
Once he did all that he then had do a combined report that he would send off to Roy to review and the forward to the admiral. Rick also had to forward his report to the captain.
Rick was just finishing a report from a flight leader from wolf squadron when there was a knock on the door. "Come in."
Roy walked in "Hey Rick."
"Roy what can I do for you?"
"I come to see how you were doing after your long patrol and see what you thought about continuing them."
Roy explained.
Rick set back in his chair "Even though we have sensors placed all around the system it can't hurt to have eyes on. You never know what you might find.
The sensors can only tell you so much. We can also increase the patrols by placing a flight on a destroyer and having them fold farther out so we can keep an eye on areas beyond our fighters' range."
"OK, I will come up with a plan then let all the CAGs review it before sending it off to the Admiral for approval."
"OK, I will have you my report off by tomorrow. I'm going to finish going over a couple more reports then turn in for the day. I was gone for about 8 hours. That is a long time to be stuck in a fighter."
"Ok. get out of here soon and get some sleep."
"Will do. See you big brother."
R/L
Admiral Gloval was meeting with Captain O'Conner and Dr. Brooks. The scientist had been surveying the planet for the last 4 hours.
"As of right now Admiral it is too early to tell if we can establish a base on the planet yet. We have determined that the planet is mostly rocky. There are also large and small areas of water. There also areas of vegetation. We have of yet sent any probs down to the surface. Once we do, we will be able to determine if we can breathe the atmosphere and use the water. We will also be trying to learn if there are any life forms on the planet and what type of vegetation it has."
"How long before you can send the probs. Also do you think you will be able to send a ground team in soon. I want to send a marine detachment with them for their protection." asked Gloval.
"I don't want to give you a set time frame because we don't know yet. I'm hoping to send probs down tomorrow. We are concerned about strong winds and storms we have detected around the planet. Once we get a better understanding of the storms and their patterns we might know.
Another thing we have to determine first is whether we can breathe down there safely or are we going to have to have environmental suits. If so, that could delay us landing on the planet. We will do the best we can Admiral, I just can't give you an answer."
"Don't worry too much about it Dr. Brooke. We all are new to this. We have never done anything like this. When we set up Sara base on Mars we knew a lot about the plant for years before we went to the planet in person. We knew what we would need before we even left Earth to establish the base.
With this planet we only have a brief idea of it. Mostly speculation. Take your time and if it takes longer then you now believe, then it takes longer.
The only thing I want you to be made aware of is that if the Zentraudi find us, we may need to leave in a hurry."
"Thank you Admiral. I will brief my people on that also thank you for understanding that we can't tell you more." Dr. Brooke stated. She was glad that it was Gloval that was in charge. A lot of military commanders were not as patient as the Admiral.
"If that is all you have doctor, Captain O'Conner and I have other things to discuss."
"Good day Admiral, Captain. I will let you know more after the probs get us some information." With that Dr. Brooke left.
"Admiral, the next scheduled report is ready. We can send the destroyer whenever you are ready." O'Conner reported.
"Hold off a couple days. Let's give Dr. Brook a chance to give us more information. That way we can give Earth the information as soon as possible. They may have some ideas of their own."
"We will also need to start looking at what kind of equipment we might need if we are going to establish a base on the planet." O'Conner added.
"That's assuming the Zentraudi don't find us first. OK Captain, lets end things here. It is getting late and I'm sure we will be busy tomorrow between what Dr. Brooke has going on and the reports from the patrols should be in by tomorrow afternoon. I'm sure Rick will have a few suggestions added to his we will need to discuss."
O'Conner gave a chuckle before bidding the Admiral good night.
R/L
Lisa and Claudia were in Lisa's quarters sipping a glass of wine talking when Lisa finally got the nerve up to tell Claudia about her talk with Rick.
"Claudia."
Claudia took note of Lisa's uncertainty when saying her name. "Lisa what is bothering you?"
"I had a long talk with Rick Hunter about a month ago. The day we had that battle with the Zentraudi. He told me about our first meeting with the Zentraudi in the old timeline."
Claudia who had been informed about Rick and the others asked. "OH, what did he say?"
So Lisa told here the story that Rick had told her. Claudia did laugh about Lisa sending a civilian into battle and the 'Old Sourpuss comment'. When Lisa finished she then told her about what happen afterwards.
"It seems like in the old timeline things did not go any where as good as they went this time." Claudia commented.
"No, we are in a better shape this time around and better able to defend ourselves. What I wanted to really talk with you about was what he told me as we were heading to meet you and Roy for dinner.
"I asked him if that Minmay girl was the one he married."
Claudia gave a slight smirk. "Oh, seeing if you have any competition for the Commander."
"NO, was just curious because she was a big part of the story. I knew he had married in the future but he never said who."
"If you say so Lisa. So was she?"
"No but he did say she caused a lot of problems between him and his wife before they got together."
"Oh. how so and then who did he marry." asked Claudia even though she had idea by the way the first interaction between him and Lisa went.
Lisa got a little shy and said in a quiet voice. "Me"
Claudia let out a laugh. "I had a feeling after I found out about him and the others that there was something between the two of you. He did tell you that you were beautiful and should smile more the first time you talked."
"I'm just not sure what to do with the information. We have talked a couple more times but not about that. I don't know if I want to know but at the same time I do but scared about what he will say."
"Listen Lisa, just ask him. It might do you some good. I keep telling you that you need to put Riber behind you and move on. It seems in the old timeline you did. Ask him. It couldn't be all bad if he flirted with you the first time you spoke."
"Other than that time he hasn't shown any interest." said a slightly annoyed Lisa.
Claudia gave off a small chuckle. "He has but not in the way he did the first time you met. He has gone out of his way to be nice to you and not be too forward. He is trying to be your friend.
I'm sure he is well aware of Riber. If you were married, he will know how closed off you are at this time in your life. He knows if he pushes you too hard that you will just close up on him."
"I can see your point. I'm just scared of what he will say. I must have told him a lot I don't tell others."
"You won't know unless you ask him. Lisa, I believe that you will not regret asking him. I'm not saying that it will all be roses and sunshine, but it must have been good. Or else he would avoid you as much as possible or your father would never would have let you be here when he arrived"
"I'm sure your right. I just need to ask and get it over with."
As you can see this one is a lot longer than the others. I try to do long chapters but sometimes it's not that easy. The next chapter should have a bigger jump and some action if I go the way I am thinking.