Fanfic Name / Nombre del Fanfic: A Year to Forget

Chapter / Capitulo: 1

Author / Autor: Dwparsnip

Rating / Clasificacion: AP15 (For Teenagers = Para Adolescentes)

Romance

Angst / Drama

Fanfic:  
Alrighty then…here’s what happens when my Sit. Room muse decides to take a holiday and a very good friend asks a question or two or three. I was asked to elaborate on a couple of my drabbles based on the ‘Prelude to the Shadow Chronicles’ and ‘The Shadow Chronicles” that dealt with Lisa’s injuries and the aftermath. Here’s what I’ve come up with so far. It picks up after the SDF-3 is hit by the Regent and Rick orders Vince to get him to the SDF-3. 
 
**So, that being said, this fic contains spoilers for ‘Prelude to the Shadow Chronicles.’ ** 
 
I don’t own Robotech or any or any of its characters. Everything Robotech belongs to Harmony Gold as far as I know. 
 
It only takes thirty seconds to tell me that you like it or it sucks. If you read this, please take the thirty seconds to let me know on which side of the fence you landed on. 
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Rick gripped the control panel until his fingers cried out in pain, and even then he loosened his grip only a fraction. He had to try very hard to keep from snapping at everyone around him to get the landing craft to go faster, to get them to the SDF-3 quicker; he knew they were zooming through space as fast as they could. 
 
His heart had stopped when he saw the SDF-3 take the devastating hit from the Regent’s ship. The minute part of his mind that hadn’t immediately flooded with heart constricting worry for Lisa knew that the shot was cataclysmic; that many people had died and were dying even as he ordered Vince to get them to the ship so they could help.  
 
Through the fear and anger that clouded his mind, he heard Vince give the order to send out a shuttle with a rescue team aboard. He wanted very badly to be on that shuttle, to go and find Lisa and make sure she was all right, to hold her tightly in his arms and feel her strong heart beat against his own.  
 
But he knew he couldn’t go on the first or second shuttle; he’d have to wait. Those first shuttles would have to carry those most qualified and capable of helping those aboard the SDF-3: medical teams, including Jean, for the wounded and engineers to implement emergency repairs, without which the situation could deteriorate very rapidly.  
 
There would be no room for Admirals. 
 
Instead, he would have to wait and try not to think about the horrifying possibility that Lisa was hurt or maybe even… 
 
“No!!!!!” he screamed at himself. “I will not think like that!”  
 
He turned around and looked at the sensor readouts, trying to concentrate on anything but the possibilities. The Regent’s shot hit the Reflex Canon; the power discharge that should have been forced through the canon’s power conduit system and expelled through the canon’s focusing lens was released within the SDF-3. Without the augmentation provided by the lens the discharge wasn’t at full capacity, but it was still destructive.  
 
The energy exploded outward, shattering the hull and exposing the interior to the coldness of space. Other parts of the ship had experienced explosions and fires. 
 
Vince seemed to sense what Rick was trying to do. “Looks like she’s on emergency power,” he commented tightly. “Some decks don’t even have that working. The comm. system isn’t working either…could be because of the spotty power. Shuttle bays are clear, though. Thank God for that.” Vince put his right hand on Rick’s shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “It doesn’t look like the Bridge was directly hit …the forward Engineering section took the direct hit.” 
 
“The Bridge wasn’t directly hit,” repeated Rick internally, emphasizing directly. No it wasn’t directly hit, but with secondary and tertiary explosions… Rick took a shaky breath. “That doesn’t mean…” 
 
“Shuttle Two just landed, sirs,” reported the comm. officer. “Should I have another shuttle get ready?” 
 
Rick was out the door running towards the landing ship’s shuttle bay before the man had finished asking the question. He ran through the corridors of the ship, rushing past those who managed to get out of his way without any type of acknowledgement, and roughly pushing aside those who got in his way.  
 
He made it to the bay and stopped just inside the door to survey the landing grid in an attempt to determine the shuttle closest to the bay doors. He found the appropriate shuttle quickly and ran towards it as fast as he could, an ingrained need to find Lisa overriding any thoughts of taking his time in the name of safety or protocol. He approached the shuttle, only vaguely aware that people were hurrying inside as well, and when he flew through the door he pushed past some engineers and turned towards the cockpit. The pilot and copilot’s seats were empty and he vaulted into the pilot’s seat without a second thought. He just flipped the switch that would close the shuttle doors when Vince slipped silently into the copilot seat. 
 
“This is Shuttle Three,” said Vince as he looked over to check on Rick’s progress with the start-up process. “We’re good to go.” 
 
Rick didn’t wait and had the shuttle half way out the bay doors when the response came back telling them that they were clear to leave.  
 
They were close enough to the SDF-3 by that time to see the ship, spewing atmosphere and plasma from ruptured sections, almost immediately after they cleared the bay doors. As they got closer, Rick glanced back and forth between the shuttle readouts and the all but dead SDF-3. The ship was torn open in the forward lower sections, and there were places in the upper section that had the telltale signs of explosive decompressions, most likely caused by power spikes throughout the power grid. “My God,” he said to himself, awestruck at the condition of the ship that was his home. “Lisa…” 
 
His thoughts were interrupted when he heard Vince try to raise the ship. 
 
“Shuttle Three to SDF-3, do you read?” he tried. As expected there was no response from the mighty vessel. “Shuttle Three to Shuttle Two…Lieutenant Warburg, do you copy?” 
 
‘Affirmative, Commander,’ came the instant reply. ‘Rescue ops are underway, sir. You’re clear to land.’ 
 
“Roger that, Lieutenant. We’ll be there in a minute.” 
 
‘Yes, sir.’ 
 
“Okay, Rick, let’s go,” said Vince anxiously. 
 
Rick tried to move but he couldn’t. His eyes and attention were fixed upon the SDF-3. The area of the ship that housed the Bridge…it was open to space! The bulkheads that usually enclosed and protected the Bridge had peeled back like a banana peel. 
 
“Rick!” 
 
Rick shook himself out of it and maneuvered the shuttle towards the hangar bay. A minute later the shuttle lurched forward as it set down on the deck and Rick jumped out of the pilot seat and bolted towards the door. It was still opening when he reached it, but that only slowed him down for an instant, as he jumped through when it was open enough for him to fit. 
 
He hit the deck at a dead run. He ran out of the bay towards the bridge, ignoring the medical and damage control personnel milling about everywhere he went. He saw the damage as he ran along, and smelled the burned wiring, but he didn’t care about any of it. 
 
Lisa was all that was on his mind, until he turned a corner and was assailed by the pungent stench of burnt flesh. It was so palpable that he brought up solid and he looked at the scene before him. Even in the dull red din of the emergency lighting he could see four bodies, all badly burned and laying on the deck in varying positions. 
 
He treaded slowly through the carnage, careful not to step on any of them. For a second he wondered why they would have been in this section of the ship, but then a sign on the left bulkhead caught his attention and he understood: Fire Station. These four people had made it to a fire suppression station in a heroic attempt to extinguish a fire that eventually killed them. He made it to the end of the corridor and took a last look back, out of respect more than a need to see them. He didn’t recognize any of them; he couldn’t they were so badly disfigured, but they were still his people. 
 
With a respectful salute he turned and continued his rapid trek to the bridge, purposefully ignoring the sickened and frightened part of his mind that was telling him all too loudly that a sight similar to the one he just saw in the corridor could be waiting for him near the Bridge. 
 
Even with emergency power the lifts were still working, thankfully. He headed for the lift that would take him to the level that held the Bridge, thankful that no one else was in it. The lift came to life when he punched the button for the Bridge and a moment later he sprinted out of it. He could feel his heart thumping in his chest, and his stomach felt as though it was boiling.  
 
He’d hoped with all of his soul to find her barking orders at everyone to get the injured to safety, he truly did. His heart, already beating faster than it ever had before, nearly exploded when he turned the corner. 
 
Lisa was on a gurney, her uniform tunic removed, her head bandaged and an IV already in her arm. Jean was hovering over her and she looked up when he called Lisa’s name. 
 
“Lisa!” 
 
He ran to her and took her hand, immediately disgusted at the fact that he had been wearing a flight suit that included gloves. He wanted to feel her hand, skin on skin, just to be sure… 
 
“We’ve managed to stabilize her!” exclaimed Jean in a voice thick with worry. 
 
Rick looked at Lisa, and the sight of blood running from her nose and the small cut on her cheek chilled him to the bone. “Lisa! Lisa can you hear me!?” 
 
Jean moved closer to him and said, “I think she’ll make it,” she put her hand on his arm and squeezed it to emphasize the extreme importance of what she was about to say, “but we’ve got to get her to Sickbay now!”  
 
Rick looked up and announced with all the authority the Admiral stripes he had could muster, “Move!” 
 
He continued to hold Lisa’s hand as he helped to move the gurney along the dimly lit corridors. He looked down to Lisa’s face every few seconds, all too aware of the fact that her hand didn’t squeeze or hold his; it simply lay limply within his frightened grip. 
 
They reached Sickbay just as the auxiliary power kicked in, bringing the ship’s illumination up to normal. Jean steered them towards one of the trauma rooms and shouted instructions to her staff including, much to his mortification, a call for the crash cart. When they reached the room Jean stopped and forced Rick to let go of Lisa, then told the medics to go on into the room with Lisa. He was about to protest when Jean shook her head, placed her right hand on his cheek and said a soft but very stern, “No.” 
 
He swallowed and Jean nodded, turning after she did so to go into the trauma room, and shutting the door behind her.  
 
Rick’s chest felt heavy, as though he were being sat on by a full sized Zentraedi in Power Armor. He tried to take in a breath, but it was becoming increasingly difficult. He staggered back against the nearest wall and tried to breathe. His mouth opened time and again, but only a fraction of the amount of air he normally inhaled actually made it inside his lungs. 
 
“Easy, Rick…she’ll be okay,” said Vince as he grabbed Rick’s right arm.  
 
Rick looked into Vince’s eyes and saw a confidence in them that was blessedly fortifying. Rick didn’t know if Vince truly believed his words or not, but like all the great commanders in history what mattered was what he portrayed, not what he believed. It was what Rick needed to see and hear, and Vince knew that.  
 
His breathing started to come a little easier and Vince nodded. 
 
“She looked so fragile, Vince,” said Rick with a hint of a sob. “She looked so,” he struggled to find a description that explained what he was thinking but stayed with, “fragile. I’ve never seen her like that.” 
 
“Jean’s the best, Rick…you know that.”  
 
Rick nodded. He stepped back closer to the wall to allow two male orderlies pushing a gurney to pass. The gurney was half way past him when a small hand shot out from the gurney and grabbed his right forearm. The hand was bloodied, but the grip was strong, strong enough to even pull him towards the gurney. 
 
He stepped closer and looked at the person on the gurney, a person he recognized as Lisa’s third officer, Lieutenant Commander Maria Santos, someone who would have been on the bridge with Lisa at the time of the attack. Her eyes were wide open and her hand was trembling, though still holding onto him tightly. Her right cheek was bruised and there was a small cut on her forehead and her uniform showed evidence of being singed by extreme heat, but otherwise she appeared to have been very lucky. 
 
“The Admiral?” she asked hoarsely. 
 
Rick forced a smile and said as calmly as he could manage, “Dr. Grant is checking her out, but she says Lisa will be fine.” He knew that wasn’t exactly what Jean said, but it was what Santos needed to hear. 
 
Relief flashed across her soot-streaked features. “She got us all out…Admiral.” She took a breath, a raspy one, and it was then that Rick realized she must have inhaled a lot of smoke. “She could have been safe…but she stayed…to make sure we all got out.” Tears filled Santos’ eyes and spilled down her cheeks. “And then there was an explosion. She’s going…to be okay, sir?” 
 
Emotion clogged Rick’s throat for a moment; pride at what Lisa had done, fear for her life, respect for what Santos was doing…it all added up. He forced it away for the sake of the young woman looking at him so intently. He smiled at her and wiped her tears away with his thumb. “You bet your ass, Lieutenant. And so are you.” Rick leaned closer to her and whispered, “You go get checked out, and don’t go hitting on these guys along the way.” 
 
Santos smiled in relief and genuine amusement. “Aye, sir.” 
 
Rick smiled back and glanced at the two orderlies, who got the implied message. Santos released Rick’s hand and the orderlies pushed the gurney away.  
 
Rick watched them go and said to Vince, “She stayed.” He turned to look at Vince and said louder, “She stayed on the Bridge with God knows what going on in there!” Rick walked a few feet away and started to pace along the corridor. “What the hell was she thinking, Vince? She’s pregnant! She should have been the first to get out!” 
 
Vince shook his head and looked at Rick. “But then she wouldn’t be the Admiral, Rick.” 
 
Vince’s words struck a cord in Rick and he stopped pacing. He opened his mouth to retort that being the Admiral didn’t matter, but he knew that it did matter…it mattered a lot to Lisa and the men and women who looked to her to be their guiding light. Rick shook his head slowly from side to side as he said, “No…no she wouldn’t.” The anger he had been feeling at her for not thinking about herself and their baby melted away just like that and he walked back to stand next to Vince outside the trauma room. “And she wouldn’t be the woman I fell in love with.” 
 
Vince smiled and looked around. The place was starting to fill up with the wounded and he’d be in the way pretty soon. 
 
Rick managed to notice the same thing happening. “Why don’t you go and get some kind of damage report started, Vince.”  
 
Vince nodded and started to leave, but something stopped him. He turned around and found Rick rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands. Vince opened his mouth to ask Rick if he’d be all right when Rick said, “I’ll be fine, Vince.” Rick lowered his hands to his sides and added, “We need to know what we’re dealing with.” 
 
Rick watched Vince nod and then turn around and leave. 
 
Rick turned to look at the door which separated him from his wife and willed it to open. He seriously overestimated the force of his will it seemed, for the door remained closed. 
 
He sighed and leaned back against the wall and looked up to the ceiling. She looked so pale, and the more he thought about it the more he realized he couldn’t tell if she had even been breathing. His heart started racing and he turned once again towards the door. 
 
“Calm down, Rick!” he shouted inwardly as he fought to keep from barging into the trauma room. “Jean would have said if Lisa wasn’t breathing. Get a grip, Rick…you’re going to need to stay calm.” 
 
Rick took a deep breath and let it out in another sigh. He had never been good at waiting, especially where Lisa was concerned. He always hated waiting for her to get home, whether she had gone shopping or had gone out with Miriya and Jean. He hated waiting for her to get off work, even though he usually got home only a few minutes before her. He simply hated being away from her. 
 
And it was driving him crazy. He couldn’t take it anymore and walked to the door, but pulled up short of opening it. He knew he couldn’t go in. He couldn’t distract Jean from caring for Lisa; doing that would only hurt Lisa in the long run. 
 
He groaned in frustration and turned away from the door. The last time he’d been in the Sickbay for a reason other than Lisa’s appointment with Jean concerning her pregnancy was several months earlier. One of their cruisers patrolling the outer sectors came under attack, and though they managed to escape they received numerous casualties, most of which were transferred to the SDF-3 while the cruiser underwent repairs.  
 
Rick smiled as he remembered coming down to Sickbay with Lisa. Actually, as he recalled, he’d been dragged down by Lisa, who said that she wanted to check on the wounded with her own eyes. He’d protested, which in retrospect he realized was perhaps insensitive of him, but Lisa had insisted. 
 
He was glad she did. She’d walked into the Sickbay and immediately helped a woman settle into a wheelchair. She never gave it a second thought, she just dove right in and did her best to help in any way she could.  
 
He’d followed her for the next hour as she made her way throughout the Sickbay, taking time to stop and chat with each and every injured officer. She would stop and make sure they didn’t need anything, and if they did she saw to it that they got what they needed, even getting it herself a few times. If they were settled, she asked them their name and what they did aboard ship. And of course, she said exactly the right thing to give them hope. 
 
She was every bit the Admiral of the Fleet. But more than that, she was every bit the woman he loved so dearly. He saw her immediate and unconditional compassion for others in the way she talked to and helped those people. 
 
And that was what the men and women currently filling the Sickbay needed. They needed her to walk amongst them and tell them that they were going to be okay and that they weren’t alone. Lisa wasn’t there…but he was. 
 
He walked over to the nearest gurney and looked at the young woman laying on it. Her right eye was covered with a white bandage that was starting to turn red and she had several cuts along her cheeks and arms.  
 
He smiled when she looked up at him with her good eye, and to his relief she smiled back. “How you holding up, Lieutenant…?” he asked as he laid his hand on her left shoulder.  
 
“Johnson, sir…Cathy Johnson. I’m doing okay, sir,” she replied unconvincingly. Rick could tell by the strain in her voice that she was in incredible pain.  
 
He nodded and patted her shoulder. “Hang in there, Cathy. They’ll be with you soon.”  
 
The young woman nodded. “Thank you, sir.” 
 
Rick nodded back to her and gently patted her shoulder again before leaving to visit the next person in what was a long line of patients. The same sort of scene played out again and again, with Rick offering whatever comfort he could, answering questions about Lisa and trying to sound positive about it all. He had just finished talking to the last injured person in the hall when the door to the trauma room Lisa had been in opened and Jean emerged looking very drawn. She had a surgical gown on and Rick became queasy again when he saw a large blood stain on the front of the gown. 
 
He all but ran over to Jean as she disposed of her gown and surgical gloves in the nearby incinerator.  
 
“What happened, Jean?” he asked in a rush. “Was that Lisa’s blood?” 
 
“What?” asked Jean, perplexed for a moment at the question. “Oh…the gown. Her IV slipped out and I was in the way.” 
 
Rick couldn’t find it within himself to be relieved. “How is she, Jean?” 
 
Jean looked into Rick’s pleading eyes and then looked away quickly to survey the Sickbay. “She’s stable, Rick, but she sustained some serious injuries.” She looked back to her friend. “She’s lucky to be alive, Rick.” 
 
Rick opened his mouth to ask what her injuries were, but no matter how hard he tried he simply couldn’t form the words.  
 
Jean, intuitive as anyone he had ever met, knew what he wanted to ask. “She most likely has a concussion, we won’t know how severe it is until she wakes up. She has several scrapes and bruises along her arms and face…” 
 
She stopped and looked down to her hands which were clasped together in front of her and Rick’s stomach flipped again. “Jean?” he whispered. “The baby?” 
 
Jean swallowed hard and said, “As far as we can tell, the baby’s fine.” 
 
Rick clenched his fists in frustration and anger. “What do you mean as far as you can tell?” 
 
Jean held up her hands to calm Rick down. “The power is still spotty, so we could only get intermittent readings with the scanners. From what we could get that was reliable, the baby appeared to be fine. We’ll continue with the scans until we can get a good scan.” 
 
“What else, Jean?” asked Rick, sensing that there was still more.  
 
Jean tucked a stray strand of hair behind her right ear and folded her arms across her chest. “Her legs…” said Jean hesitantly, “…they were…they were non-responsive in nerve conductivity tests.” 
 
He had no idea what that meant, but judging by the way it was affecting Jean it couldn’t have been good. “In English, Jean.” 
 
Jean nodded an apology. “Both her legs are broken.” She waited for Rick to absorb what must have been shocking information for him. “Her right tibia was fractured in two places, and her left femur was broken at about the mid thigh position…luckily they weren’t compound fractures.” Jean shook her head as she thought about what must have happened. “Something impacted her legs with tremendous force.” 
 
Rick shook his head and staggered a step over to the wall, which he put his left hand on for support. “Impacted her legs?” he muttered disbelievingly.  
 
“That’s not all,” said Jean regretfully. When Rick looked at her she added, “There’s also evidence that she took a blow to her back. There’s a very deep bruise on the small of her back and some puffiness that could be an indication of swelling.” She stepped over and leaned back against the wall next to Rick. “The nerve conductivity test sends electrical impulses along the nervous system to check whether or not the nerves in any given areas are receiving input from the brain,” she explained. “But…there was no response in Lisa’s legs.” 
 
Rick’s head was swimming in technicolor quicksand. “What are you saying, Jean?” 
 
Jean breathed deeply and said as she released the air, “Lisa’s legs, either because of the damage caused by the fractures or the blow to her back, aren’t working.” She pushed off the wall and turned to catch Rick’s gaze. “We’ll know about what’s causing it, and what we have to do to fix it, when we run more tests when the power grid stabilizes. With the scanners not operating at their best we just can’t tell if there’s any damage to her spine or not.” 
 
Rick held up his right index finger and said, “Let me get this straight. Lisa is…paralyzed?” 
 
Numbed by the despair in Rick’s voice, Jean could only nod. 
 
Rick blinked his eyes rapidly, as if trying to wake from a terrible nightmare. He sank back against the wall and only barely managed to keep from sliding down the metal wall onto the floor.  
 
“Paralyzed?” muttered Rick in disbelief. “No, Jean, that can’t be…you’ve got to be wrong!” He turned to face her and reached over and grabbed his friend by the shoulders. “She can’t be paralyzed, Jean. She can’t!” 
 
The widening of Jean’s eyes told Rick that he’d lost it a little. He looked to his hands gripping Jean’s shoulders and took them away quickly, shocked that he’d grabbed her so roughly. He stepped back and once again leaned back against the wall. 
 
“I’m sorry, Jean,” he whispered remorsefully.  
 
“It’s okay,” said Jean when she found her voice. “Rick…the paralysis could be temporary. You mustn’t jump to conclusions, mustn’t assume the worst.” She moved to stand in front of Rick and took his face in her small hands. “Do you hear me, Rick? We just don’t know enough yet. You have to be strong and you have to stay positive…for Lisa, Rick. No matter what’s causing it, she’ll have a long and hard recovery. She’s going to need you.” 
 
Rick focused on Jean and what she was saying. She was right, of course. Lisa would need him. He had to be strong for her. “Can I see her?” 
 
Jena nodded and gave him a sympathetic smile that even shone in her eyes. “Of course you can. They’re going to move her to a private room further in Sickbay. It will give you both more privacy and comfort.” She gestured to his flight suit and said, “It’s going to take a few minutes. Why don’t you go and change and clean up? She’ll be settled by the time you get back.” 
 
Rick knew there was no arguing with Jean, especially when she made a lot of sense. He nodded once and walked a little unsteadily to the door. He opened it and turned back to where Jean was watching him. “Thank you, Jean…for everything.” 
 
Jean smiled and said, “You’re welcome. And don’t worry, Rick. I’m going to do everything in my power to help Lisa.” 
 
Rick managed a small smile. “I know, Jean.” He walked out into the main corridor and made his way to his quarters. It took longer than it should have taken, the damage to the most direct route made the way impossible, meaning he had to find an alternate route. The trip afforded him the opportunity to see some of the damage, not that he really paid close attention to any of it. All he could think about was Lisa and their baby. When he reached their quarters he walked into his bedroom, changed and walked out again. By the time he got back to Sickbay, Lisa was in her own room. 
 
He took off his uniform jacket and placed it on the back of the chair, and then stat down to watch over the woman he loved more than life itself. 
 
He was there for a couple of hours when Vince knocked on the door. 
 
The bigger man stayed in the doorway, unwilling to intrude on his friends any more than he had to. “Admiral,” he said professionally, “the SDF-3 is in bad shape. There’s extensive structural damage and the feedback from the reflex canon overloaded nearly every relay on the ship and wiped out the fold drives too. She’s not going anywhere for a while, against Edwards, the Regent, or even back to Earth. We’re stuck here.” When Rick never even acknowledged the report Vince said his name to make sure he was listening. “Rick?” 
 
Without turning away from Lisa Rick said, “I heard you, Vince…I heard.” 
 
Uncertain as to what to do or say, Vince simply hung his head and said quietly, “Rick…if there’s anything I can do…” 
 
“I’ll let you know,” whispered Rick without taking his eyes of his wife’s still form. “Thanks, Vince.” 
 
Vince sighed softly and left his friends alone with each other, closing the door to give them the privacy they so richly deserved for what they were going through. He maneuvered through his wife’s domain, Sickbay, being careful not to accidentally impact any of the dozens of wounded men and women in the hallways. The sheer number of personnel injured forced that course of action, placing people on gurneys in the halls. The rooms, including the trauma and triage rooms, were occupied with victims of the Regent and Edwards. 
 
“Hey you,” came a familiar voice and it automatically made him smile, despite the pain and suffering going on around him. For a moment he felt guilty about it, but then shunted it aside when he realized that no one here would begrudge him a little happiness. 
 
He turned to see a tired looking Jean walking up to stand beside him. She flashed him the same type of smile that he knew was on his own face and then looked around at her Sickbay.  
 
“We’ve evacuated the injured that could be moved safely to Tirol,” she explained without having to be asked. She knew Vince, with Rick watching Lisa and most of the senior officers that were on the bridge at the time of the attack dead or injured, was the most senior officer aboard and in charge. “Even with them gone we still have too many to deal with.” She glanced around and noticed one of the women from the science department changing a bandage on one of the injured. “Everyone who has had any sort of medical training is helping out.” 
 
Vince nodded as he took in the scene before him. He’d never seen anything like it, not even after Khyron’s final attack on the SDF-1. 
 
“Have you heard from Max or Miriya?” asked Jean. 
 
“They’ll be here in a few days,” Vince replied. The Sterlings had been securing support from some of the Sentinel worlds and had been forced to seek refuge aboard one of the other ships and had as yet been unable to return to the SDF-3. Vince lowered his voice. “How is she?” 
 
There was no doubt about whom Vince was asking about and Jean’s eyes instantly clouded over with tears. She glanced around, then pulled Vince into a small nook of the Sickbay that was too small to hold anything but a crash cart. Unfortunately, the crash cart had been needed so much that its new residence was just outside Trauma One. “Stable, but she’s not good, Vince.” Jean took a deep breath, remembering what had been done to her friend which was trying for her to say the least. “She suffered severe trauma to both of her legs, her back, a concussion and some minor internal bleeding…” 
 
“The baby?” asked Vince louder than he meant. He instantly looked around to see if anyone overheard him, and sighed in relief when he saw that no one had.  
 
Jean shook her head as she said, “Too early to tell. I need to run some more tests, but most of the equipment we have was either damaged or is being run at its limit.” Just then the lights dimmed for a second and Jean looked up and said with frustration in her voice, “And the power keeps fading in and out!”  
 
“They’re working on it,” Vince commented automatically and earned a dirty look from his wife. “In regards to Lisa,” said Vince with some amusement in his voice, “she’s the Admiral, Jean. I think she deserves to jump to the front of the line a little.” 
 
Jean gave her husband a wry look. “You know very well, Vince, that if I did that she’d have my commission.” 
 
Vince smiled in agreement, closed his eyes and said a short prayer for Lisa and the unborn Hunter. Rick and Lisa were both looking forward to being parents, it would be devastating to them both if something happened. He just finished when an announcement came over the intercom. 
 
‘Captain Grant report to Engineering, please. Captain Grant to Engineering.’ 
 
He was about to apologize to Jean when she looked at him with understanding shining in her violet eyes and said, “Go.” 
 
Vince smiled, nodded and then headed to Engineering to hear what was almost certainly more bad news. 
-------------------------------------------- 
Rick waited until he knew Vince was gone and then wiped away the tears that had been gathering in his eyes with the back of his hand. Jean still hadn’t been able to tell him much in the lines of specifics about Lisa’s injuries, between the power problems and the volume of patients she had. She had probably been the busiest person in the fleet for the last little while, and he knew that Jean would tell him immediately if she knew something new about Lisa or the baby.  
 
His eyes rose up to gaze upon the familiar face of the woman he loved so much. She looked so peaceful lying there. In fact, the only difference between her now and the hundreds of times that he watched her sleeping was the fact that now she had a white bandage wrapped around her head and the small cut on her left cheek, just below the eye he’d give so much to see open right now. 
 
Then of course, there was the monitoring equipment and it’s steady beeping. He wasn’t a doctor, or even a medic for that matter, but he’d spent enough time in hospitals to pick up on a few things, like Lisa’s heart rate was steady. It was reassuring to him to hear her heart beat so rhythmically, even after she’d experienced so much pain. 
 
Not for the first time since he sat down next to her he wished that it had been him on the bridge and not her; wished he was the one lying in that bed and not her; wished that they would have been able to live their lives without the constant threat and the pain. He wished for those things so much it hurt. 
 
He reached over with trembling hands and pulled back the blanket that was covering his wife just enough to be able to take her hand in his. He caressed her perfect skin gently, suddenly aware of how fragile their existence was; suddenly aware of how their lives could be changed in the blink of an eye. 
 
He’d never seen her injured so badly. And paralyzed? How would Lisa deal with that? How would he deal with that?  
 
He had no idea. 
 
He just knew that he would. 
 
He would do anything for her. 
 
He never paid any attention to the constant parade of nurses who came in to check on Lisa. He’d heard every word they had spoken to him in the hours since he first sat down beside her, but like Vince’s comments of a few moments earlier, he just couldn’t bring himself to care. 
 
The only person he truly cared about at the moment wasn’t opening her eyes, and that scared him like he’d never been scared before.  
 
A soft knock on the door made him instinctively tighten his hold on Lisa’s hand protectively. Without turning away from Lisa or loosening his hold on her hand he said just barely loud enough for the new arrival to hear, “Enter.” 
 
The door opened slowly. “I’m very sorry to disturb you, Admiral,” began Reinhardt’s aide, Lieutenant Dellar, “but the General ordered me to tell you that the Council will be convening tomorrow afternoon to discuss the situation, and that the Council would like you and Captain Grant to attend. He would also like for you and Captain Grant to meet with him in the morning, sir, to go over some of the information that will be discussed at the Council meeting.” 
 
Rick was tempted to tell Dellar to tell Reinhardt where he and the Council could go and how to get there, but Lisa stopped him. Or more to the point, what he imagined Lisa would say stopped him. 
 
“Go, Rick,” she’d say with that dazzling smile of hers. “I’m okay and you need to be there. We need to be heard, Rick. Don’t let them make a decision without us.” 
 
“Sir…” 
 
“I’ll be there, Lieutenant,” Rick said quietly. “Inform Captain Grant to have a shuttle ready for us at 0800, and tell General Reinhardt we should be down shortly thereafter.”  
 
“Yes, sir,” said Dellar, and then he turned and exited the room, gently closing the door behind him. 
 
Rick tuned his complete attention back to Lisa, tracing the lines of her face with his eyes, from her chin to her lips to her nose. He wondered briefly if there was an inch of her beautiful face that he hadn’t, at one time or another, kissed, and he smiled when he realized there probably wasn’t. 
 
Rick continued to caress Lisa’s hand with his left hand as his right hand moved up to Lisa’s belly. She wasn’t far enough along in her pregnancy to show, so her stomach was still its usual flat self. Still, he didn’t actually dare rest his hand upon her abdomen for fear of hurting her. 
 
Rick sighed and closed his eyes. He was tired, but he had no idea if it was from the emotional roller coaster he’d been on, the attack from Edwards and the Regent or the time on night. 
 
He opened his eyes and glanced around the room looking for a clock as he said aloud, “I wonder what time it is anyway.” 
 
“It’s one thirty in the morning, sir,” answered a nurse as she closed the door. He hadn’t even heard the door open in the first place, let alone hear the woman actually step inside.  
 
“Dr. Grant asked me to inform you of the time, sir, and suggest that you go home to get some sleep, sir,” she stated somewhat timidly, more than aware of the fact that people of higher rank would not be able to get Rick Hunter to leave his wife’s side for the sake of sleep. 
 
“Thank you, but I’m staying here.”  
 
The nurse nodded, unable to miss the determination in his voice. She opened the door to leave and said, “There’s a cot outside the door, sir, if you’d like it set up.” 
 
For the first time in what seemed to Rick to be a very long time, he smiled. He looked to the nurse, and then glanced meaningfully around the room. “Thank you nurse, but I don’t think a cot will fit in here.” 
 
The nurse smiled back and relaxed a little. “No, sir…I guess not.” She turned to leave but stopped and faced Rick again. “Admiral?” 
 
Rick raised his eyebrows and the nurse said softly, “We’re all praying for her, sir. And you.” 
 
Rick’s throat became dry at the sentiment and all he could manage was a grateful nod. The nurse seemed to understand and nodded back, then left Rick and Lisa alone once again. 
 
“You hear that?’ he asked Lisa when he turned back to resume his vigil over her. “Everyone’s pulling for you.” Rick reached down with his right hand, grabbed the chair and then lifted himself up enough to pull the chair closer to Lisa’s bed. He leaned forward to rest his arms on the bed next to her and leaned in as close as he could get to her face. “You’re going to be okay, Lisa…you hear me?” He smiled and reached over with his right hand and ran his fingers gently up and down her pale cheek. “We’re going to be okay. We’re going to end this madness and enjoy the rest of our lives as parents.”  
 
Parents. It still boggled his mind a little, the fact that he was going to be a father.  
 
And that was the last thought that went through his mind as he laid his weary head next to his wife’s and closed his eyes. 
-------------------------------------------- 
Rick woke, not that he slept solidly by any stretch of the imagination, to someone calling his name. 
 
He bolted upright in the chair, able to ignore the painful protests of his neck and back with the belief, the fervent hope, that it had been Lisa calling out to him. 
 
It was to Lisa that he immediately looked through bleary eyes, and his heart sank when he saw that she was still in the same position she had been in when he last looked at her, and even more to the agonizing point for Rick she was still unconscious. 
 
He ignored the hand gently, and sympathetically he knew, pressed upon his shoulder as he wiped the sleep from his eyes so that he could focus on Lisa.  
 
Her color was still the same. Her skin was still pale, and her lips still didn’t have their usual glow about them. And her eyes…her eyes were still closed. 
 
“Are you okay, Rick?” asked a very concerned Vince. 
 
“No,” he answered honestly, and from Vince’s silence he knew that he understood that he meant he wouldn’t be okay until Lisa woke up. 
 
“The shuttle is ready to leave when you are, Rick,” Vince said. “Why don’t you go and throw on a fresh uniform. I’ll stay with Lisa until you’re ready.” 
 
Rick ignored Vince for a moment, stood up and then leaned down towards Lisa. “Lisa,” he whispered next to her ear, “Lisa, please wake up.” He knew his voice had a desperate tone to it, but he didn’t care. He was desperate to see her emerald gaze locked onto him again and to see her smile. When she didn’t respond he carefully pulled the blanket up over Lisa a little more and made sure it was tucked securely around her. “I have to go, Lisa,” he said, trying to keep the worry from his voice. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”  
 
Rick lifted his head and kissed Lisa’s forehead as tenderly as he knew how. He let his lips move against her skin there as he whispered, “I love you.” 
 
He lifted his lips from her forehead and turned away before he lost the bit of courage he’d built up to help him to leave and walked swiftly to the door. He took the handle in his hand and said to Vince as he opened it, “Give me fifteen minutes, Vince, then meet me on the hangar deck.” 
 
“Yes, sir,” replied Vince as Rick walked through the door. 
 
Rick made his way through the Sickbay, stopping a couple of times to utter words of encouragement to some of the injured that hadn’t been there when he’d went around the previous evening. 
 
Once through Sickbay, he made his way to his quarters. The way was clearer than it had been the last time he made the trek, engineering and clean up crews having worked through the night. Even with their impressive work, some sections were still cordoned off and he still had to detour in some places. 
 
The farther away he got from Sickbay, something else bubbled up within his chest, something dark: revenge. 
 
He was going to make Edwards and the Regent pay for this, and pay dearly.  
 
He walked into his quarters, his and Lisa’s quarters, and stopped for a moment. The first thing he saw was their wedding picture on the wall. It was the happiest day of his life, the day he married Lisa. The mission to Tirol loomed ahead of them, but they were happy. Now, he wasn’t sure if… 
 
He shook those thoughts from his mind as he changed into a clean uniform and ran a face cloth over his face. It wasn’t long before he made his way to the hangar deck, which was still bustling with activity. 
 
He found Vince waiting for him by the shuttle. 
 
“We’re ready when you are, Rick,” he said as Rick walked up to him.  
 
Rick simply nodded and walked onto the shuttle. He sat in the first seat and Vince sat next to him. 
 
Vince waited until the shuttle had left the SDF-3 to say, “Breetai sends word that his forces stand ready to assist us in the pursuit of Edwards, and that he has every confidence that Lisa will recover.” 
 
Rick genuinely smiled at that. Breetai had been fond of Lisa ever since their first encounter, and rightfully so. Lisa was the best example of what a human should be for a Zentraedi: intelligent, brave, skillful, kind and loving - the total package. 
 
Rick looked over his shoulder and frowned as he realized there was someone missing on the flight. “Where’s Jean, Vince?” 
 
Vince glanced at Rick before turning his gaze back to the papers he had resting on his lap. “She’s coming down later. She wanted to check on Lisa and run some more tests.” 
 
Rick nodded, and then looked out the shuttle window at the passing stars and his thoughts drifted back to Lisa. He tried to remember all the good times they had, but there were simply too many to think about in the short time he had to watch the stars. Instead he fondly remembered a few of the watershed moments in their life together, such as their first completely consensual kiss as a couple, the first time they made love and the launch of the SDF-3. Through the years, through all the good times and the very few bad times, Lisa hadn’t really changed that much. Sure she’d changed in some ways with the years, everyone did, but she never changed in the ways that really mattered. As far as he was concerned, the Lisa he just left in the Sickbay of the SDF-3 was the exact same Lisa he fell in love with, she’d simply grown more beautiful as she got older.  
 
But she never looked more beautiful than she did on that magical day when they physically connected after they moved in together in Monument. The look on her face when he walked into their house and made his intentions known, that sure and confident look that told him that what they were about too do was perfectly right for them, easily erased the last morsel of doubt he might have had. The taste of her lips, the feel of her sweat dampened skin against his and the feel of her touch was beyond incredible, both emotionally and physically. The loving and trusting way that she looked at him, from the second she saw him in their living room to the time they spent together afterwards just added to her beauty. 
 
It was cliché he knew, but it was true. 
 
It was such a tactile and pleasant memory that he unconsciously rubbed his right arm where Lisa’s nails, in the throes of their physical activity, dug into his arm with enough pressure to tear his skin and draw blood from him. It wasn’t until the shuttle landed on the tarmac with a jolt that he realized what he was doing, and he looked over to see Vince respectfully looking at some papers he had on his lap.  
 
“Will the whole council be there, Vince?” asked Rick after a moment, and he immediately regretted it when Vince flinched. 
 
“Yes,” he said quietly, “except for Lisa.” 
 
Rick nodded again and turned his attention back to the window. He could see Reinhardt waiting for them on the tarmac, his face grim. When the shuttle came to a stop a moment later, Rick stood up and said, “Let’s get this over with.” 
-------------------------------------------- 
The meeting dragged on for much longer than Rick had hoped it would, and his anxiousness ratcheted up to a fever pitch when Jean walked into the meeting an hour after it had started. She didn’t say anything, except to apologize for her tardiness, but the look that she gave Vince and the way that she avoided looking at him scared him. The only thing that kept him from ignoring everything else and going over to talk to her was the knowledge that if something life threatening had happened to Lisa, Jean would have told him. 
 
Still, it didn’t keep him from tapping his foot nervously under the table and losing focus on what was being said by Reinhardt and the others. In fact, he was having a hard time thinking about anything other than Lisa…and Edwards. 
 
What he said in the meeting was true. Edwards had it in for the Council, and later the Sentinels, from the get go. But to spend years hording alien technology while REF personnel died liberating the Sentinel worlds from the Invid was insane. 
 
And it was infuriating. 
 
Reinhardt ended the meeting, but before Rick could go to Jean to check on Lisa, L’ron and the other Sentinels surrounded him and offered their best wishes for Lisa. He appreciated their sentiments, he really did, but the last thing he wanted to do was to listen to them when Jean stood only a few feet away. 
 
Some movement from where he last saw Jean standing caught his eye. He looked over and noticed Jean walking out of the room with Vince in tow. He excused himself as quickly as he could and walked swiftly to the same door that the Grants had just exited. 
 
He found Jean and Vince just outside the door on one of the balconies that encircled the main building apparently waiting for him. As he got closer to them, he could see something in Jean’s eyes that he didn’t see very often: profound sadness. 
 
Dread gripped at him, and for a moment everything faded to black around him and his legs seemed to have been enveloped in cement. He kept walking towards them however, and the world around him came back into focus, including a brilliantly setting sun that Lisa would have loved to see. 
 
“Rick,” said Jean. He could tell from the timid tone of her voice that something wasn’t right. 
 
“Jean, how’s Lisa?” 
 
“I had to move her down here to the base infirmary to run additional tests…there was just too much damage to the SDF-3 to keep her there, what with all the power fluctuations.” 
 
“Is she…?” 
 
“Don’t worry. She’s going to recover.” 
 
“Thank God for that. You know, I was looking forward to Lisa finally resigning her commission after she found out that she was pregnant, and none too soon it seems. You really can’t be an Admiral and a…mother…” 
 
He trailed off and then stopped altogether when Jean lowered her eyes to the balcony floor. When she looked at him again a moment later, her eyes glistened with unshed tears. Sensing his wife’s distress, Vince placed a massive hand supportively upon her shoulder. 
 
Jean took in a sharp breath. “Rick...she lost the baby.” 

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