This is just going to be a filler chapter. Mostly just story telling. It does have some Rick and Lisa in it though.
It was the day after the battle and Rick was sitting in the in the Admiral's main briefing room beside Roy and across the table from Lisa who seem to be glaring at him.
Roy leaned over and asked, "What did you do this time to get Lisa mad at you?"
"I have no idea." replied Rick before turning towards Lisa and smiling at her. Her eyes just narrowed more as Roy chuckled beside him.
Rick stopped a reply when the door opened, and Admiral Goval came in with Admiral Hayes. Everyone stood but Admiral Hayes waved them all back in their seats. Admiral Gloval took his seat and Admiral Hayes took the seat at the other end of the table. Several monitors were filled with others on other fleet ships who could not be present in person.
"OK, everyone. I received the casualty report along with the damage report. First and foremost, I want to tell you that you all did a great job. Don't let the deaths take that away from you. You took on numerically superior force and won. Not only that you forced the enemy commander to pull his forces back to Mars's orbit.
I'm also wanting to give my condolences for your loses. Unfortunately, they will probably not be our last." Admiral Hayes spoke to all.
Admiral Glover thanked him on behalf of his fleet personnel. Before Hayes continued. "Commander Hunter, can you tell us what happen during your flyby."
"Yes sir, we came in wide of them and then turned to cross in front of the two ships. As we cross in front of the first one, I saw their guns follow us but did not fire. At that point I believed we would get through the mission without firing a shot. It was just before we reached the second ship that it opened up on us. I ordered all fighters to fire on that ship and the get out of there at best possible speed. I was not expecting us to destroy it, I was just hoping to cause enough damage to get my people out of there. We made the turn to return to the fleet when a few seconds later the first ship fired on us. By that time we were far enough away to make it harder to hit us." replied Rick.
Rick was asked a couple questions before they moved on to the battle between the RDF's ships and the small group of enemy ships that attacked the SDF-1 and her escort. All the ships captains gave a report on what their ships did and damage reports. They also updated the Admiral on the status of repairs. The last thing they discussed was the injured. Admiral Hayes wanted to know if any needed to be transferred to the hospital at RDF Headquarters.
The briefing went on for a few hours before everyone reported what needed to be said and all questions answered. When it was over Rick was asked to stay along with Admiral Gloval and Lisa.
R/L
Once everyone left but those that Admiral Hayes wanted to speak with, the doors were sealed.
"Rick, what do you think happen out there" asked Hayes.
Rick answered "I think the second ship's captain acted on his own. He at that point box Breetai in a corner. I don't know if Breetai would have tried to make contact or attacked anyway. After his scout ship attacked my flight and was destroyed, he could only attack, then no other reason than because we were forced to destroy the ship."
"Rick, do you think if that captain had not fired on you that he would have tried to contact us. Even though we had been trying to get communications established between us and them." asked Gloval.
Rick sighed and thought of what to say before replying. "There is no way to know for sure Admiral. Breetai is not like a lot of Zentraedi commanders. He doesn't believe in wasting lives or just wiping out a species just because they might be in the way. At the most he might have pulled his ships back so he could decide the best way to handle it." Taking a breath Rick continued. "It doesn't matter now. He is committed to trying to take the SDF-1 by force. We can't even tell him the protoculture matrix he wants is not even on the ship anymore."
"No, we can't because he won't care. He will want to know where it is." replied Hayes. Of course, there was a smaller on the SDF-1 and the Enterprise. It was how they plan to keep their fleet ships fueled during long patrols.
"How well do you know this Breetai?" asked Lisa.
"Well, enough he gave my wife away on our wedding day because her father and all her family were dead." said a smiling Rick. "Was a good day. Though my wife and I never got to have a typical honeymoon because the next day we left on the SDF-3."
Admiral Hayes just chuckled. "OK, we need to decide what to do next. Rick any ideas?"
"We fold the SDF-1 and her fleet out. Do a few small jumps to keep Breeti from finding us quickly." answered Rick. ""Have any research missions you like us to do?"
R/L
Later that afternoon Rick was in his office working on paperwork when there was a knock on the door. Thinking it was one of the squadron commanders or Vence with the Maintenace report he didn't look up after telling who ever knocked to come in. He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard some clear their voice.
"Commander Hayes what did I do to be blessed with your visit." Lisa just sent him one of her famous glares that she was learning had no real effect on him.
"I came down here to talk. I was hoping you could tell me more about; well you know what."
"Let me tell you about my first combat mission. You will like the story. You are in it."
Lisa let out a groan "Relax Lisa it is a good story."
Rick went to tell her how because his older sister was killed on Mars, and he blamed the military that he and Roy had a falling out. He told her that he came to visit Roy just before the SDF-1 was set to launch. Roy had invited Rick to the celebration happening the day before. Rick had come in hopes to fix the relationship between the two brothers.
He told her how he arrived and Roy's reaction that had her laughing. He then went to explain Roy's attempted to coax him in the RDF by letting him fly a trainer.
"Roy had just finished showing me the controls and how to start it up. He went to the tower to get us cleared to get up when Breeti arrived. That time it wasn't the Zentraedi that fired first but us. Well technically it was us, but it was because Zor lest a bobby trap in the ship's main computer core. The program would fire the main gun if any Zentraedi ships found the ship. Luckily Emil was able to disable it this time around but of course we still ended up in a shooting war.
I was sitting in the cockpit when the SDF-1 fired, and all the fighters started taking off. I didn't know what was going on or what to do, I was a civilian. Then this bossy flight controller came over the TAC-NET and ordered to take off. So, I took off and joined the air battle. Scared out of my wits the whole time too. Made ace my first combat mission. Roy wa so proud. Said he knew I would make a good fighter pilot."
"What idiot would send a civilian into combat." Rick just started laughing which just made Lisa glare at him.
Rick got his Laughter under control enough to tell her. "A one Lt. Commander Elizabeth Hayes."
Lisa just stared at him like he was crazy. "No."
"Yep, start of one of the best friendships I ever had. Of course, the next time I talked with you; you were saving my ass because I was in a fighter out of control."
So, Rick went on to tell her in more detail about his first air combat mission. She glared at him when he told her about 'the old sour puss' comment.
He told her about some of the other things that happen. Like them being captured, Mars and was about to start about the final battle that lead to almost everyone on Earth killed when his comm went off.
"Hunter."
"Hey little brother, where are you at. your late for dinner." asked Roy.
"Sorry Roy, be there in a few minutes." answered Rick.
"No big deal, Claudia is trying to hunt down Lisa without paging her all over the ship."
Lisa stepped in front of the monitor "Tell her I'll be there in a few minutes."
Roy got a smirk on his face that Rick knew all too we. "Well, Well, Well. What do we have here."
"Stow it Fokker. Commander Hunter was just giving me some information I needed. We just got caught up on work and lost track of time."
"If you say so Commander." replied a still smirking Roy Fokker.
"Enough, Roy or you won't ever be able to have kids with Claudia. Assuming you ever get around to marrying her." That took the smirk off Roy's face.
"Now not go give Claudia any ideas little brother." begged Roy.
"I don't know. What do you think Lisa?" said a now smirking Rick.
A equally smiling Lisa replied. "You know Rick, I might just be curious as how he would talk his way out of this if we said something during dinner."
Roy was in a panic now. He loved Claudia and maybe one day marry her, but with a new war going on he wasn't sure this was a good time.
"Relax Roy we will wait to put you on the spot. See you in a bit. Rick disconnected the call before he and Lisa busted up laughing at his reaction.
"His face was priceless. Though I might ask Claudia about it when it's just the two of us. I pretty sure she wants to marry him."
Lisa saw Rick look sad. "Yea she does, but because of what happen to his dad he never got around to asking her. Roy died shortly after we landed back on Earth. I was in the hospital after I got shot down by friendly fire. That was Claudia's biggest regret before her death.
"Come on flyboy. Let's go before they send the MP's out for us." Rick smiled when she called him 'flyboy.' It had been a long time since she had.
"So, is this Minmay girl the one you married?" Lisa asked just before he opened the door to his office.
"No, but she caused a lot of problems between me and my wife before we got together." A smirking Rick looked at Lisa before telling her. "No, I married this Old Sour Puss that I use to drive crazy."
Lisa stood there stunned as Rick walked out the office.
Well, there you have a little hummer. It will probably be a few days before anymore updates. I'm working the next 5 days and I'm usually exhausted afterwards. So, no promises on the next update.