fanfic_name = Beyond the Stars

chapter = 1

author = Admiral Price

Rating = AP15

Type = Adventure

fanfic = A small note before I begin: I'm going to change the end of "To the Stars" a little bit, as well as add a new character. I just felt that a character who was close to both Gloval, Lisa, and Rick would be nice. Also, a character whose personality I get to determine! Yay!



Beyond the Stars

By Admiral Price

(A pen name, if you haven't guessed. I mean, what kind of parents would named their kid Admiral Price?)



"Lisa!" Rick shouted as jumped out of his Veritech. It seemed impossible. The SDF-1 had taken a direct hit, and was now slowly burning as it sank into the lake. He had feared with all his fear that she was dead. He had dreaded with all his dread that, when he had finally realized how much he cared for her, she was gone. But there she stood now, bewildered and confused as her hair danced in the wind.



"Lisa, what happened?" he asked her.



"Huh?" she responded, her eyes misty as she looked into the most recent past.



<Flashback>



"He's ramming us!" Vanessa yelled.



"Brace for impact!" Lisa ordered.



"Fifteen seconds to collision!" Kim chimed in. Just then the door flew open and a young man in his mid twenties rushed in. He was Admiral Gloval's aid, a man by the name of Greg Steinburg.



"Pull your ejection seats girls!" he yelled as he ran into the bridge. The bridge bunnies- Sammy, Vanessa, and Kim- pressed a few buttons on the side of their seats, and within seconds were flying out of the SDF-1 in specially designed ejection pods. Ten seconds remained. He looked to the side of the bridge and found that one of the ejection pods was damaged, and the other one could only fit two people. There were four people remaining on the bridge. He took Lisa by the shoulders and threw her into the capsule, his strength greatly amplified by the adrenalin flowing through his body. She landed with a thud, followed almost immediately by Claudia. The door slammed shut, and the two girls whirled to safety. They splashed in the surrounding water, and as the ship blew to pieces, swam to safety.



</Flashback>



"Oh my God." Rick said, shocked to the core. "So Gloval is."



"No. His pod ejected right after our's did. A few seconds difference maybe. But if that's true, Greg didn't survive."



"Why?"



"Because there were four one-man capsules installed on the ship's bridge: one underneath the seat of the captain, and three under the seats of the communications and radar officers. Claudia and I had to use specially installed ejection capsules to the side of the bridge. All in all it worked, but if the Admiral ejected, his capsule would be too small to take Gregwith him."



"Wow, that's sad. He really did a brave thing." Rick and Lisa both looked sadly to the ground, praying that there was some way both of them survived.



"Look! There's the Admiral's ejection module Rick!"



As the capsule pulled to shore, Rick heaved the door open. Lisa gasped as she saw the inside of the capsule, parts of it painted red with the blood of its passenger.



"You killed him!" she shouted. "You killed him!"



"Lisa, no!" Rick said, trying to calm her down.



"You killed him, you killed him!!!" she yelled, shaking the passenger violently. "How could you do it? How could you let him die to save yourself?!"



"I didn't do anything," she was responded to. "I couldn't do it. I tried to eject him but it all happened so fast and he pressed the button and.and.I didn't do it!"



"What happened?! Tell me what happened!!!"



<Flashback>



The Admiral remained seated calmly in his chair. He had an ejection pod situated directly below his chair, but he would not use it. Greg looked at him, and Gloval looked back, both knowing what the other had to do. Five seconds. Gloval's aid ran to the Admiral's chair and tried to reach the panel to the direct left of Gloval. Before he could press the ejection button, however, Gloval grabbed his hand and pulled him to the chair in his place. The button pressed, Lt. Steinburg was sent against his will out of the SDF-1. Gloval, by his own doing, was left to die. One second.



With a long sigh and a tip of his hat, the bridge took a direct hit from Khyron's ship.



</Flashback>



"So he gave his life up to save you." Rick mused. Silence was his only response. Lisa and Greg hugged for what seemed to be an eternity, both lost in the grief of losing someone who was like a father to them. After five minutes a few rescue choppers reached the SDF-1 and began evacuating the survivors. Lisa and Greg were taken from the capsule and loaded onto different choppers. Greg would be transported to the medical center, while Lisa and Claudia were immediately taken to a place that was code named Point K. It was an old airport that was refitted to serve as a command base until a more permanent one could be established. They would have been given some time off, but as they landed, they soon realized that a full fledged crisis was underway. As they got off the chopper, a sergeant led them to the flight tower. There they found an old friend, one they were afraid had died.



"Captain Hayes!" exclaimed a very relieved Exedore. "We believed you and the remaining bridge crew had perished in the first attack!"



"No, we got out quite all right. But." Lisa's voice trailed off as she tried to forget the rest of the sentence. Exedore noticed this and could not help but inquire.



"Who was it? Was it Lieutenant Steinburg?"



"No sir. It was.it was far worse. For all of us."



"Then the Admiral sacrificed the present in the hopes of a better future."



"Sir?" cut in Claudia.



"I am afraid this is not the place nor the time. Commander Breetai has been informed and his remaining fleet is on its way to the surface. I am afraid that there is quite a crisis unfolding. It seems that a series of raids on mecha warehouses have been conducted by rogue Zentradi forces."



"Hmm.Exedore, could they have enough intelligence to actually do it themselves?"



"I'm not sure Captain, but I really have no interest in finding out at this time. Captain Hunter has been sent to lead the counter attack against them. When he finishes, we will make attempts to unravel this mystery."



"So that's where we come in. Come on honey, let's get to work." Claudia and Lisa immediately ran to the nearest command consoles and began giving battle orders.



"Radar, give me a status report," ordered Exedore



"There are three hundred battle pods in sector five and six combined sir."



"That many?!"



"Yes sir, from what I can tell."



"Claudia, you're going to have to get the destroids there in a hurry," Lisa said quickly.



"What for Lisa?"



"Because most of the veritechs were parked in the SDFs. I'll take care of getting the remaining fighters ready for a counter attack. You get the 'roids in positions."



After a flurry of transmissions, seventy destroids were already defending sector's five and six, and were soon to be accompanied by thirty VFs, including the commander of the mission, Rick Hunter. They would be helped by three hundred destroids who were on their way to the coordinates, and would reach in ten minutes. Lisa was able to contact two hundred fighters, and they would arrive in approximately thirty minutes. Breetai had also sent two hundred battlepods to help, and they would reach in fifty minutes.



"That means in an hour we'll have approximately seven hundred units in position," said Lisa.



"Yes, but that won't be nearly soon enough! The existing defenders are being heavily punished. Blocks C and D all faltering, and all other defense sections are reporting massive damage! They won't hold out for that long."



"Then allow us to offer some assistance," came a voice over the comm. unit.



"Identification?" Lisa asked.



"This is Shadow Two, acting Shadow Leader of the newly formed Shadow Squadron. Lt. Kathryn Bradley at your service madam."



"What a relief. How many fighters do you have with you Lieutenant?"



"Twenty for right now."



"All right. Proceed to coordinates Omega Charlie Five."



"Roger that. I'm going to cut all radio contact until we engage to kinda have a surprise effect."



"Understood Lieutenant. SD- I mean Point K out."



Kathryn and her band of twenty fighters landed and assisted blocks C and D, securing them before continuing. Minutes later the hundred destroids arrived, engaging the enemy at their flank.



Rick arrived a bit later, and witnessed a stellar maneuver. Shadow Two turned around after an engagement between her battloid and an enemy battlepod that was pretty short lived. She found herself surrounded by five pods. The moment she comprehended this, the lives of her enemies ended. She launched her battloid off the ground and landed it's back into the center of the battlepoid right behind her. As she crashed into it, she fired her gun at the remaining four pods. All were destroyed, and she was unscathed. Rick shook his head, admitting that she had talent, and began to get to work.



"Max, you and Miriya cover section F. I'll lead Jack and Dick over to section E."



He immediately divided the group and began his initial attack at section E, where seventy pods were attacking thirty destroids. The pods were concentrating so hard on the battle that they didn't notice three VFs swoop in from behind them and take out ten almost instantly. Much fighting ensued, and Rick found himself in an odd situation. All though they were outnumbered over two-to-one, the pod pilots seemed green behind the ears. They handled the pods foolishly and were easily destroyed. Max and Miriya reported similar experiences. Miriya was especially dumbfounded.



"They're either really out of practice or have had some rather bad training," she mused.



"Well, at least we've taken care of section F."



"Max! Meet me at section A immediately! It seems that the pods pulled a good one on us. They've penetrated it and are running off with some of our destroids and VFs!"



"On my way Captain."



As Rick made his way towards section A, Max and Miriya sped wildly towards them. He was too late though, and nearly fifty RDF units were stolen.



"Permission to pursue Captain Hayes?!" Rick shouted.



"Negative Captain. We have fighters coming from that way, they should be able to intercept them. I'll let them know now. You get back to block D and see who needs help."



"Roger that bridge. Skull one out."



After a little mop up, Rick, Kathryn, and the rest of the defenders tiredly returned to Point K six hours after the initial attack of Khyron's battleship. It was getting dark now, and the damage estimates were coming in. It didn't look pretty.at all. Rick settled his VF down on the landing strip in Guardian mode just as Kathryn brought her's down in a traditional landing. He sighed as he got out of the cockpit, but his lackluster mood soon lifted as he saw who was waiting for him on the strip.



"Lisa!" shouted Rick as ran towards her.



"Rick! Oh Rick! I'm so glad you're safe! Oh I missed you so much."



"I missed you too," he said, taking her into his arms. After a few blissful moments of standing there, Lisa in his arms, he finally came back to reality. "Who is that pilot?"



"Hmm? Oh, do you mean Shadow Two?"



"Yeah. She's almost as good as Max!"



"She's second in command of the newly assembled Shadow Squadron. It's an elite Squad, kind of like the Skull."



"She's quite a pilot. She wiped out ten pods in less than ten seconds on her own. Her squad was quite something too. Who's their commander?"



"Lt. Steinburg."



"Steinburg?! I thought he is- was- Gloval's aid."



"He's quite a pilot you know. He took part in the fight against Dolza."



"Wow."



"Well, we better get inside Rick. There's a lot to get fixed." They began to walk, arm in arm, and as Rick's mind settled down from the fighting, he finally began to ask questions as they walked.



"Any word from the hospital? Do we know who survived and who didn't?"



"Yes.but the figures aren't pretty. Most of the people died on the SDFs. Dr. Lang and his crew was wiped out. The engineering and maintenance crews were killed completely. The bridge seemed to get out, except that Kim and Sammy are both still unconscious. It seems like their pods were hit by debris from the SDF-1. Venessa has a broken leg, and should be in the hospital for a while longer. Claudia and I suffered a few scratches and I have an annoying bruise on my arm, but-"



"What? You didn't show it to the doctor? Come on Lisa, let's get you to the medical facility."



"But Rick, I'll be fine!" She tried to protest, and she was not going to lose. Worse came to worse, she would pull rank on him. "Rick! There is a very important meeting that is going to take place in fifteen minutes. They've requested you to partake in it."



"Okay. But after that we're going to get you to the hospital. Oh, by the way, how's your friend?"



"Oh, Greg? He'll be fine. He got some really nasty cuts that they had to stitch up, but he'll partake in the meeting via videoconference."



"Okay then. Let's go."



The two walked off, arm in arm, anxious as to what would happen in the meeting, still numb as to what had happened. It wouldn't be till after the meeting when the weight of what had just transpired finally began to settle in.

State = Continuará/To Be Continue

feedback = Sí/Yes

email = AdmiralPrice786ATaol.com