Here is the next chapter and again will have different points of view. I am going to try to continue to spread the stories point of view from different people. I like it gives a wider view to the story. This chapter will cover the fallout from the attack and the SDF-1's disappearance.
Rick was sitting in the Admirals office. Admiral Hayes had gone to the command center to see if he could find out what happen to the SDF-1's fleet. Rick could not believe that Lisa was probably dead.
Donald Hayes walked back in his office and saw his son-in-law looking like his world is over. "We haven't heard anything yet but if the SDF-1 was as damaged as you say, it's not a surprise."
"The plan was that they had to fold out, they would fold back to Epsilon Eridani. Hopefully they are there."
"We can send some ships there to check. We can send out several in different directions to misdirect the Zentraedi."
Before they could continue, the admirals phone rang. "Hayes."
"Admiral, we have a small fleet defolding just beyond the moon's orbit."
"Ours?"
"Yes Admiral, one heavy cruiser and several destroyers. All from the SDF-1's fleet."
"Commander Hunter and I will be there in a minute."
R/L
Rick and Admiral Hayes walked in the Command Center to see Captain Samuels from the cruiser Brooklyn. The two walked to the center and Admiral Hayes addressed the Brooklyn's captain.
"Captain Samuels, what is the status of the SDF-1 and the fleet?"
"Admiral, the SDF-1 took heavy damage, the super structed was destroyed. All personal were able to get out with just some injuries. I don't have a list of all the deaths and injuries at this time. Admiral Gloval wanted to get word to you as soon as possible that the SDF-1 survived and that your daughter was alive."
One of the officers standing next to Rick and the Admiral manage to get a chair behind Rick before he hit the floor. They all knew that he was married to the Admirals daughter and that see was on the bridge during the attack.
"Thank you, Captain. What is the status of the rest of the fleet?"
"The fleet came through with minimal damage. Most all it was from the Zentraedi cruiser exploding. The upper deck of the SDF-1 took a lot of damage and will need a shipyard."
"What are your orders?"
"Report to command and if there were any of our fighters remaining to bring them back with us. Thats why we have so many ships. To create a large enough fold sphere."
Hayes turned towards Rick. "Commander, how long to get your fighters ready?"
"Lt Stirling reports that the few fighters with damage are being worked on. The rest just need to be fueled and the pilots a night's sleep. I don't want to risk any of them because they are too tired."
"Captain, proceed to high orbit. Commander Hunter will lead his fighters to join up with you tomorrow morning if possible."
"We will be waiting Admiral. Commander Hunter, glad you came through. How many fighters do you have?"
Rick stood back up. "If we can get all the fighter fixed enough to at least land on your ship, 385 fighters. We lost 11 in the short battle."
"I will see you as soon as you can take off." With that the connection terminated. Admiral Hayes turned to Rick. "I guess you have some pilots to inform."
"Yes Admiral."
R/L
Admiral Gloval was holding a meeting with his senior staff and other trusted officers. He looked around a could see bandages and a couple cast some of them had from injuries.
"We are now hidden in the asteroid field that is around A Egir. The SDF-1 has taken a big hit but is still operational, other than our weapon systems on the upper side and the superstructure. All ship operations are now being done from the secondary bridge.
Dr. Lang, how much of the damage can be repaired without a shipyard? What other damages do we have?"
"For the superstructure, it is to damage to repair without a shipyard, same with the particle cannons. We should be able to repair most of the anti mecha weapons systems. We have started repairing any hull breaches.
The fold drive is down and will take some time to fix. The engines took some damage but not too bad and will be repaired in a few days. We are at half speed at the moment."
"First priority is the fold drive; we need it up as soon as possible. Then the engines. The fighters and the other ships of the fleet can defend us for the moment. Captain Fokker, what is the status of the fleet's fighters"
"Admiral, I have 18 squadrons. When the fleet closed up on the SDF-1 we had 22 squadrons outside the fold sphere and are unaccounted for. Unless RDF Command was able to deploy another fleet to the area."
"Understood Captain. I sent the Brooklyn back with a small fleet to report back and to see if any of our fighter's survived."
"When we know Admiral?" asked a teary eye Lisa.
"Gloval looked at his main flight control officer and could tell she had not been holding up all that well but still did her good. She might have lost her husband because they had to do an emergency fold and left him and 396 fighters behind.
"I don't know. They were told to report to command and then come back as soon as they could. I don't know how long command will keep them."
Lisa just nodded and her friend Claudia tried to give her some support. The meeting went on for little while longer before it broke up. Everyone but Gloval, Roy and Lisa left.
"Captain, are we able to start searching for the factory satellite?"
"I can deploy cats' eyes but no fighters to support them. We just don't have enough fighters at the moment."
"OK, send them but we will contain our search for just this area. If nothing is found here than we can discuss what to do about widening the search area."
"We may not have a choice, Admiral. We need to find it so that we can get this ship repaired and start rebuilding our fighter squadrons we lost. We don't know if any of them survived. I can tell you that Rick would have attacked the Zentraedi fleet with whatever fighters he had left. It would be better than slowly dying in space. If RDF Command did not send any ships than we probably lost them all."
"Lisa."
"I'm OK Admiral. It is always a possibility that we can all die in this war. I just want to know one way or another."
"Captain, get with Dr. Lang and see if he has any ideas and than launch your planes. Hopefully things will work out."
R/L
Breetai was going over reports on his loses. He lost over half the fighters and battle pods he sent. What is worse is that Azonia was unable to complete her mission. All because Kyron did not know how to think and listen. He looked up when Exedor walked in.
"Commander, we are not as lucky as I would hope. The cruiser to attack the SDF-1 was not Kyron's."
"So, he sacrificed on of his other ships and its crew."
"It would seem so Commander, but if Azonia gets ahold of him he might not live much longer. She was almost killed and failed her mission. While she knows you do not hold her responsible."
"Yes, she does not like to fail and takes it personally. If Zor's ship folded out another minute later. We would have lost her and the spies we were sending. They would have been spotted when they arrived wherever the fleet went and even Azonia would have been able to survive those odds."
"We also received a report from the ships watching the micronians planet. A small fleet folded in and is in orbit around the planet."
"Do we know where it came from?"
"No Commander, they have had a lot of ships coming in or out of from around their planet. We believe some are still doing patrols of their star system. Some are still over the outpost they have in the other star system. After the one of our patrols attacked one of theirs that led to the multiple attacks on our ships with no damage to theirs's we have left them alone."
"Try to follow some of their ships to see if we can find Zor's ship. Also, we need to start the search again."
"Yes Commander."
Breetai looked back at the report he was reading before Exedor arrived and thought 'If only Kyron had not interfered, he would be able to find the battle fortress easier. He would send Azonia out to kill Kyron. He didn't have a choice.'
R/L
Rick brought his fighter aboard the cruiser Brooklyn. Once he was parked, he was directed towards the bridge. He arrived a few minutes later to be greeted by the captain.
"Welcome aboard Commander."
"Thank you, Captain. How long till we arrive?"
"We will be folding to Pluto's orbit and patrol the area for a bit to make sure that the Zentraedi are not trying to follow us. I am concerned about their fleet movements at the moment. One of the RDF patrols folded out 6 hours ago and a small fleet of Zentraedi ships left out shortly later."
"They are hoping that we will lead them to the SDF-1. I bet their commander also has started sending out small fleets to start the search all over again."
"That is my guess as well. I am going to stretch this out for a couple days. I know the Admiral and others will worry about how long this is taking but I don't want to take any chances."
"No problem, I will rotate my fighter squadrons, so all my pilots can get out of their fighters and stretch their legs."
"We have beds set up for your pilots in one of the storage bays. Sorry, it's the best we can do."
"Don't worry about it. It's better than sleeping in our planes."
Rick stayed on the Bringe during fold operations. Once they folded out, he had all fighters set a CAP with all fighters inside the screen of destroyers. He ordered all of them not to venture past the destroyers.
It was an hour later that another fold was detected. "Looks like you were right Captain."
"Looks like we are going to have to do this the hard way. Go ahead and rotate your fighters and then we will do a series of folds and try to lose them."
Rick went over to the flight operations station and sent out the orders. Half an hour later the CAP was swapped out and they folded. When they arrived at their new destination the fleet went to best possible speed for an hour before folding again. They did this several more times before setting up a patrol. If they were not found in a few hours they would fold to just outside the Epsilon Erdoni system and head into A Egir on sub light.
R/L
It had been two days, and they have yet to hear from the ships they sent back to Earth and Lisa was worried. She was not trying to get her hopes up. She knew her husband and knew he would not go out without a fight and take as many Zentraedi with him as he could. She was working in CIC at the moment since they had more people than needed with the bridge out of commission. She looked over to where Rebecca was working and knew her sister-in-law was just as worried. She had just got her brother's back and now one was missing in action. The two had spent their time off telling stories of Rick. Lisa was getting more out of it than Rebecca.
The last time Rick didn't have any family survive and never talked about them. This time Lisa got to hear all to good stories her husband would never want her to find out.
Lisa looked from the command chair over to flight operations when she heard Sammie call out.
"Commander one of the patrols believes they have a hit. It's coming from one of the largest asteroids on the far side. They are requesting instructions."
"Tell them to hold position and we will join up with them. Lt. Hunter, contact the secondary bridge and let them know and then contact the fleet and let them know we are doing a course change."
"Yes Ma'am." a couple minutes she reported back. "Commander, bridge reports they will set the course and let the rest know. The rest have been notified of the change was coming."
"Thank you." Lisa than notified the Admiral herself.
R/L
The fleet arrived over the asteroid and Lisa was back at her flight operations station on the secondary bridge. Admiral Gloval and Captain O'Conner were speaking with Dr. Lang.
"I believe we have found it. I am going to try to send a couple signals to the asteroid and see if it opens up. Once it does, we should be able to enter and dock inside."
"Very well Doctor." Gloval replied.
Lisa watched as Dr. Lang sent what she knew were access codes that should allow them access to the factory satellite. Assuming they were in the right place. It did look like they could be. The asteroid was the size of a small moon. More than big enough to hold several fleets and a couple shipyards to repair and build ships.
Lisa was starting to get worried because it was taking so long. It was about 10 minutes before they started receiving docking coordinates. The fleet would have to enter from the far side of the asteroid. Admiral ordered a course change, and the fleet followed the SDF-1 around the large asteroid. When they arrived on the far side Lisa could see bay doors were open on the monitor.
"Claudia, take us in nice and slow. Pass the word to the fleet to follow us in single file. All fighters are to return to their ships."
Lisa notified her fighters and let the Admiral know when they were all on board. The last fighter landed just as the SDF-1 crossed over the thresh hold of the factory satellite.
Everyone on the bridge watched the main monitor as they went down a tunnel. It was a few minutes later they entered a large cavern that look like it had several docks for ships. He also noticed a couple other tunnels leading other places.
Once the SDF-1 was fully in the cavern it was directed to a large dock. As the other sips came in, they were directed to others docks accordingly to their size.
"Admiral I am detecting an oxygen mix that we can safely breath." Lisa heard from the back of the bridge.
Claudia continued to keep the SDF-1 on course. When they got close to the dock, some kind of tractor beam locked on to them and guided them into position. Claudia had cut all thrust by them and was about to use maneuvering thrusters till they were moved into position by the station.
Once the ship had stopped, docking collars connected to the SDF-1's main airlocks. Dr. Lang got a green light of the good lock with the docking collars.
"Admiral we are docked and connected to the station. I am not detecting any life signs on the station, and we are being scanned."
"By whom?"
"I would assume the station. It seems to be scanning all the ships as they dock. It might be checking ship statues to see if they needed to go to any shipyards the station has."
"Very well, contact Col. Maistroff and let him know I want this station secure. Once it is Dr. Lang, I want you to go aboard and see if you can gain full control of the station.
R/L
It had been a several hours since they found the factory satellite and took control. Admiral Goval had assigned his main bridge crew to man the command center at the top of the station. Dr. Lang had reported he had full control of the station a couple hours after they arrived.
He reported that the station had two shipyards that could build or repair 4 ships at a time. Once he reported that they started moving all personnel off the SDF-1. Once they were all assigned quarters the ship was taken to one of the shipyards. A few of the other ships also went so they could be repaired. They didn't have to pull all the personal off those ships because they only needed minor repairs.
Beside the shipyards they discover a few robotech factories that could build fighters and ground mecha. Dr. Lang was working with his engineering staff on getting the ships repaired and new fighters and mecha built. He told the Admiral it would take another couple days till they were ready to start.
Vanessa was manning the stations radar screens when she detected a small fleet of ships enter the A Egir area. They all had RDF transponders.
"Captain O'Connor, I have the cruiser Brooklyn and her ship arriving inside the asteroid ring. They also have several fighters as escort." She looked at Lisa. "One of the fighter's IFF identified as Wraith 1."
Lisa let out a breath of air as she heard her husband's plane had survived. "Put me through to the Brooklyn."
A couple minutes later Captain Samuels was on the screen. "Captain O'Conner."
"Mike I am sending you coordinates so you can dock with the station."
"So, you found it."
"Several hours ago, we have control and are working on getting it ready to start repairs. How many of our fighters were you able to bring back?"
"All but 11. Commander Hunter said they lost 11 fighters in the short battle."
"I will let the Admiral know."
"You might want to let Commander Lisa Hunter know."
"She is here and knows."
"OK, we will see you all in a little bit."
"Let the fighter know we have fighter bays for them all to land. All fleet fighters are being stationed in the stations fighter bays for now."
"Will do."
Lisa had a big grin on her face and had tears of joy running down her face. Claudia and the bridge bunnies all hugged her.
R/L
The command staff and ship captains were all waiting in the man briefing room on the station. They were all waiting the ship captains of the ships that just arrived and Rick. They all turned as the doors opened. Lisa was out here seat when Rick was the first to walk in. She didn't care if it was proper. She was just glad to have him back. Roy joined them a minute later.
Here is the next chapter. It seems Kyron is in trouble and might be fighting his own people for his actions. Breetai is getting frustrated also. He had a good plan to keep track of the SDF-1 till he could try to take it at a point he knew he could do it without destroying it, which is what Kyron almost done. I did toy with destroying it and Breetai having to explain to Dolza of what happen.