Can a Second Chance Change It All?
Chapter 7
Mars Survivors
Author: Jo

The weeks since Rick had been promoted to team leader had gone by fast, especially because of the many duties he had to do now that he was a team leader.
And above all, there was the Minmei issue. She had entered the Miss Macross pageant, a beauty pageant that the Mayor of the city decided to do in order to distract people from the war.
Rick didn’t like the idea at all; it was enough to have her normally surrounded by other men in the restaurant but now she would be exposed to the entire ship. But that wasn’t what bothered him the most. What bothered him the most was the fact that he knew deep in his heart that she loved that kind of attention.
So tonight was the night of the pageant. Even though his squadron was on stand by, things lately had been really quiet with the enemy so Rick decided to go to the pageant and if something happened he was sure that he would get called. After everything was ready on the base he left to go to the pageant.
He barely made it on time to see her appear to the crowd. She looked so beautiful in the Chinese dress that she had worn for her birthday.

“Her Birthday…..” Rick thought and that made him remember the gift that he had given to her, his medal for courage under combat. He regretted that he had given her that medal as soon as he had found out why he had received it. The fact that Commander Hayes considered him a role model for the soldiers had caused a strange reaction in him, something that he couldn’t put into words. He was proud of himself but it was more than that. In a way he wanted to be the good soldier that she believed he was, but that was difficult for him. That medal represented in a way all the faith that Commander Hayes had in him and he had given the medal to Minmei. What tormented him the most was the fact that no matter what she would never understand the meaning of that medal. Never.
But even after all that, he couldn’t deny his feelings for Minmei. So there he was, breaking the rules only for her; to watch her in that beauty pageant. And there she was, radiant in her Chinese dress, ready to answer the question that the jury would ask her, but he was too caught up watching her to pay attention to her answers.
That is, until Captain Gloval gave her a question that definitely caught his attention.
“Do you have a steady boyfriend among all the fighter pilots that you count as your friends?” asked Gloval.
“I don’t believe that I’m ready for that at this point. I mean, I think it is best to have a lot of different friends,” answered Minmei.
“Do you find it difficult having male friends?” asked Colonel Maistroff.
Minmei laughed, “Not at all! In fact, I have one really good friend who’s just like a brother to me.”
Rick was paralysed in disbelief and he clenched his fist in anger against the banister where he was leaning. A brother, A BROTHER that was all that he was for her!!!
Rick was really mad and then to make things worse the cold voice of the communications officer interrupted the pageant.
“Lieutenant Hunter. Bridge calling Lieutenant Hunter.”

Lisa was with the girls on the bridge. She was in charge of the ship while the Captain was participating on the jury of the beauty pageant.
“Have you ever noticed how handsome the captain is?” asked Kim and the girls of the bridge laughed.
“He has this mysterious thing that makes him very attractive,” said Claudia.
“Hey watch your mouth or I will tell Roy,” Lisa joked and all the girls of the bridge laughed again.
“Have you checked the prizes for the Miss Macross contest?” asked Sammie.
“They are amazing. The plane, it’s incredible,” said Vanessa.
“And it was 100% made in Macross. Doctor Lang did an amazing job,” said Lisa. Suddenly the door of the bridge opened and an officer from Doctor Lang’s team was standing in the door.
“Commander Riber requesting permission to enter the bridge, Commander Hayes,” said Karl in his most military voice.
Karl was standing in the bridge door, waiting for Lisa to give him permission to enter the bridge and all the eyes on the bridge were fixed on him. The girls were finally meeting Karl Riber, the long time lost love of Lisa Hayes, and when they saw him they understood why she was so in love with him. He was dressed in his black uniform, actually the jacket was black with grey lines and the turtle neck of his uniform was yellow as a way to show that he was part of the first mars mission. The pants of his uniform were also grey and the colors of the uniform and the fact that he was pretty tall made him look even more distinguished. The contrast between his light brown, slightly unruly hair with the black of the jacket gave him a sexy look and his light blue eyes that were sparkling in Lisa's direction and the sweet but mysterious smile that he was wearing made the girls of the bridge lose their breath. To finish his look, there was the gallon of Lieutenant Commander on his left arm and the patch showing that he was part of the scientist personnel of the SDF-1. In his hands was a tray with six cups of coffee.
“Permission conceded, Commander” said Lisa trying to sound professional but unable to hide a smile. It was the first time that she had seen him in his new uniform and without the sling, so she was as surprised and breathless as the rest of the girls on the bridge.
“I thought that you might want a cup of coffee,” said Karl as he started to walk in Kim and Sammie’s direction.
“Oh you are so cute,” said Sammie with a dreamy voice and all the girls started to laugh, “I mean you are so kind,” corrected Sammie as she turned red.
Lisa also laughed but she remained at her post, not sure if she should go or not; to say hi to him or to salute him. After all, she was on shift and they were on the bridge, but on the other side he looked so handsome with his new uniform. The black jacket just enhanced the way his good boy face mixed with this bad boy gaze that he had and that made Lisa’s knees tremble.
“Come on Lisa, go” said Claudia and gave a small slap on the back to Lisa. Lisa gave her a shy smile and started walking toward Karl who was now surrounded by the girls.
“So you work for Doctor Lang?” asked Kim.
“Yes, I used to work with him on Earth so it was natural that I continue working with him,” answered Karl. He was working on Doctor Lang’s team doing armament research and trying to figure it out the enemy behavior.
“But your uniform is not like the rest of Doctor Lang’s team,” Vanessa remarked.
“Well that’s because I graduated from the officers academy on Earth,” said Karl.
“And because you are the second in command,” added Lisa with a smile. As she came to stand next to him all the girls immediately took a step back.
“Not exactly the second in command,” said Karl with a smile and his face changed immediately and all his attention was focused in Lisa.
“But you are Doctor Lang’s right hand,” said Lisa and her eyes were fixed on Karl’s but Karl only smiled at her.
“Coffee?” he asked tenderly without taking his eyes off of her.
“Sure,” answered Lisa and Karl passed her the cup of coffee and softly touched her fingers, “with cream and one spoonful of sugar.”
“Thanks,” added Lisa with a smile. She held the cup with her hand over Karl’s and Karl didn’t release the cup.
“Look, the participants are starting to appear,” said Sammie who was looking at Vanessa’s screen and then Lisa released Karl’s hand and turned her attention to the screen with her cheeks lightly red.
“Here’s your coffee Claudia,” said Karl and gave Claudia the last cup of coffee.
“Thanks Karl,” said Claudia.
“It’s nice to finally put a face to the name,” said Karl smiling at Claudia.
“I agree completely with you,” said Claudia.
“Look, Jan Morris is in the pageant,” said Kim.
“Really?” asked Claudia and suddenly the image of the pageant were replaced with a radar image.
“What’s that?” asked Lisa with concern and Vanessa went immediately to her post and started to get information of the image.
“I’m receiving images of an enemy ship in our perimeter,” said Vanessa as Lisa moved to her station along with the rest of the girls, leaving Karl alone in the center of the bridge.
“How many?” asked Lisa.
“Just one,” said Vanessa and after a moment she added, “I believe it’s only a recon ship.”
“Who’s on standby tonight?” asked Claudia and Lisa picked up her earphones.
“Prometheus this is Commander Hayes, put the standby squadron leader on line please,” said Lisa and after a moment she added in a voice that was a mixture between anger and surprise, “What do mean he is not there?” Lisa tightened her fist and then added with a very serious voice, “Locate him and pass him to me ASAP.”
“The ship is steady in the same place Lisa,” said Vanessa.
“Good,” said Lisa.
“I think I should go now,” said Karl.
“Nooooo,” said the trio at the same time.
“You can stay Karl, this is only a routine procedure,” said Lisa with a softer voice.
“Are you sure?” asked Karl with concern.
“Of course I am,” said Lisa and just a second later a light turned on in Lisa’s panel. When she answered and it was Rick who was on the other side of the line her face change immediately- she was livid.
“Lieutenant Hunter reporting.”
“What Kind of soldier do you think you are?” said Lisa in a hard voice “You are on standby tonight and you aren’t on the Prometheus!”
“I.. I was..”
“An enemy ship just crossed your sector and you didn’t even know!!!” said Lisa looking at the screen with anger.
“I was eating,” was all that Rick could say, angry by the reaction of Commander Hayes.
“I don’t care what you were doing, report to the Prometheus NOW! And scramble!” said Lisa and she cut communication without even letting Rick answer.
Karl was standing next to the Captain’s chair and looking at Lisa with interest. He had always imagined Lisa as a dedicated and correct officer and looking at her working was extremely fascinating for him. Actually, he wouldn’t like to be in the shoes of the Lieutenant that was on stand by that night, because Lisa probably would submit him to something very close to a court martial Karl thought smiling. He was proud of Lisa, she was an excellent soldier, not just the daughter of an admiral, and she wouldn’t expect less from an officer under her command.
“What’s the enemy ship doing?” asked Lisa and that made Karl get back to what was happening on the bridge.
“It’s fixed in the same place,” answered Vanessa.
“Hunter already reported to the Prometheus, Lisa,” said Kim and Lisa only nodded with a severe expression.

Rick hung up the phone and was upset. Why did an enemy ship have to cross his sector right now, and why if it was so important was he the only one to get called? Then above all Commander Hayes had to call him a bad soldier.
“What’s wrong with her? First she said that I’m a role model to soldiers and now she treats me like I’m the worst soldier ever,” thought Rick as he slapped the door of the phone booth and started to walk down the street. If he was lucky enough some taxi would take him to the Prometheus as fast as possible.
“Hey Bro, where are you going? You will miss the swimsuit contest,” said the voice of Roy at Rick’s back.
“I’m on stand by tonight,” said Rick pissed off.
“Then good luck,” said Roy to bother Rick, but Rick didn’t answer him and got into the first taxi that passed by and went to the Prometheus.
Once he was there, he decided that since he was the only one of his squadron that had been called, he would have to go to face the enemy in a worthy ship and that meant the armoured battloid. He would fly that ship and teach the enemy to not cross his way even if that meant that Commander Hayes put a scream in the skies. And that was what happened as soon as he had taken off.
“Hunter who issued you permission to take out the armoured battloid? You are supposed to be flying ghost support, not confrontational!” said Lisa, whose image appeared on the left commo screen.
“Excuse me, sir, but I’m alone here against an enemy vessel, it doesn’t matter if it’s just a recon..”
“Silence Hunter, you aren’t authorized to fly an armoured battloid, that ship is for special missions only.”
“I know but…” interrupted Rick.
“And you deliberately took off in it?” said Lisa in a sarcastic tone.
“Look Commander could you at least give me the enemies coordinates please?” said Rick with disgust.
“If you had been at your post you would already know the enemy location, but since you weren’t you will have to wait, it seems that there is some kind of interference on the military frequencies,” said Lisa as her image started to get blurry on Rick’s screen.
“I’ll wait,” said Rick with no enthusiasm.
“The enemy coordinates are 545 per 790 on the sector…” Lisa was saying but her image disappeared and instead of the commander the image changed to the image of “Zenny’s fast food.”
“In what sector?” said Rick out loud but he got no answer from the commander. After trying to change channels for while, he left it on the first channel where the image of the Commander had been. That channel now had TV commercials. Probably commercials that were airing during the pauses of the beauty pageant, and that wasn’t a bad thing -maybe he would see Minmei in the bathing suit competition after all.
“Change to Channel 3,” appeared the flash image of Commander Hayes. Rick made a grin and changed the channel, but the image of the commander didn't look better.
“It seems to be that MBS transmissions are interfering with us. I’ll change to laser induction- stand by,” said Lisa.
“Sure, if that makes you happy,” said Rick with a voice full of sarcasm. He was really more interested in the beauty pageant that in the enemy location, but for his bad luck the laser induction did work and Lisa’s image appeared clear on his screen and gave him the coordinates of the enemy vessel. But that was the only thing that he needed, so after he received the coordinates he faked interference and cut the communication with the bridge and tuned to the contest again.
There were two participants before Minmei’s turn, and he was very anxious. He even forgot the fact that he was out in space, in a new ship that hadn’t been properly tested in combat and accomplishing a recon mission. His mind was only occupied by the idea of seeing Minmei in a swimsuit.
When her name was announced he instinctively closed his eyes. He wanted to be surprised by her image in a swimsuit because he had never seen her like that before. At the moment that he opened his eyes everything else disappeared. His eyes where fixed on the image, on every detail of Minmei’s body. He didn’t even pay attention to the red light that appeared on the screen announcing to him that the enemy vessel was in dangerous range. That didn’t matter to him, only looking at her walk on the stage with her green swimsuit, her hair free and that gorgeous smile on her face. He was hypnotized.
Then suddenly he was taken back to reality, to his reality-he was in the middle of a war, in enemy territory and in the target of the enemy vessel. He knew all that when the image of Minmei disappeared from the screen and was replaced by the image of the missiles that the enemy vessel was shooting to his tail.

“That’s weird, not even the laser induction seems to work,” said Lisa with concern.
“But he is heading in the enemy vessel’s direction,” added Vanessa.
“Let’s hope that everything will turn out ok,” said Lisa.
“Can we put the beauty pageant on a secondary screen Lisa?” asked Sammie. Lisa hesitated for a second before she spoke.
“Only on a secondary screen, I want Vanessa’s screen and mine focused on the enemy vessel,” said Lisa.
“Sure,” said Kim and Sammie with joy, and the image of the contest appeared on screen at Sammie’s station and all the eyes where fixed on her screen.
“The swimsuit competition already started,” said Vanessa.
“Look, it’s the girl from the Chinese restaurant. I thought she was too young to enter the pageant,” said Kim.
“Why didn’t you enter the contest Lisa, you probably would have won,” said Claudia.
“I’m a soldier, not a beauty queen,” said Lisa raising an eyebrow in disbelief.
“What do you think commander?” asked Sammie to Karl.
“It’s Karl and I think that any of you could have entered the pageant and won,” said Karl with a smile, making all the girl smile too, “I mean, now that I see the participants I understand why the captain has all of you locked here on the bridge. You could beat all those girls any time,” he hadn’t even finished the sentence when Sammie and Kim were hanging from his neck making him flush and making Lisa and Claudia laugh.
“You are so sweet!!” said Sammie.
“You definitely should be one of the judges,” said Kim and suddenly she let go of Karl, “Oh my God Lisa, I’m so sorry,” said Kim and her face was all shades of red.
“Lisa!” said Sammie with a hint of fear in her voice.
“Its ok,” said Lisa with a smile, “but we are on shift right now girls,” said Lisa with a reproachful tone that wasn’t very believable.
“Yes Lisa, of course,” said Kim and she returned to her station, but her eyes were still fixed on Sammie’s screen.
When Vanessa announced that the enemy ship had been destroyed and that Lieutenant Hunter’s ship had survived the explosion and was moving slowly to the SDF-1, everyone got relaxed on the bridge and the beauty pageant was tuned in again on Vanessa’s big screen.
“Look the five finalists have already been chosen,” said Sammie.
“I knew that Jan Morris would be in the five finalists,” said Kim.
“There are only a few girls who can compete with Jan Morris,” said Vanessa.
“I think that the girl from the Chinese restaurant is tough competition,” said Claudia.
“What do you think Karl?” asked Sammie.
“She is not ugly, but definitely she’s not my type. I only have eyes for one woman,” said Karl, looking at Lisa with pure love in his eyes, making her flush.
“Ohhhhhhh!!” exclaimed the girls.
“Look, the voting already started,” said Vanessa and the girls remained in silence while the voting was running. Claudia and Lisa got closer to Vanessa’s screen to see the results and Karl got closer to Lisa. Because everybody was watching the screen he softly took Lisa’s right hand in his, making her look at him with a smile and losing all the attention that she had on the pageant. There where only Karl and her on the bridge for that fraction of time.
“Can you believe it? The Chinese restaurant girl won,” said Kim surprised.
“I just can’t believe that Jan Morris didn’t win!” said Sammie.
“I told you that girl was dangerous. Roy told me that she is very popular among the pilots,” said Claudia.
“I find it so unfair, she is just a kid! There’s no way that she can appreciate the amazing plane that she will get!” said Sammie.
“She is only a couple of years younger than you, Sam,” said Vanessa.
“But I’m still older than her and you know that I’m right,” said Sammie.
“Maybe, but she didn’t break any rule of the pageant,” said Claudia.
“I still think that there must be a participant who represents the RDF. It’s so unfair that they didn’t let us participate,” said Kim.
“That’s so true, we should have competed!” said Sammie.
“In that I agree with you, there should have been someone representing the RDF,” said Vanessa.
“What do you think Lisa?” said Kim and all of them turned to Lisa, who was caught looking at Karl just as much as he was caught looking at her.
The girls looked at each other and Sammie gave a sigh that took Lisa and Karl back to reality.
“Sorry what did you say?” said Lisa trying to not be nervous.
“What do you think of that Chinese girl winning?” said Kim.
“Isn’t she a little bit young?” asked Lisa.
“That’s what I was saying and besides I think that there should have been someone who represents the RDF in that pageant.”
“I’m not sure about that, I mean what image people would have of an officer who entered a beauty pageant?” said Lisa.
“I think it depends on the officer,” said Karl.
“Exactly. If it’s a good officer then no one will think badly of her reputation if she enters a beauty pageant,” said Claudia.
“What I do believe now is that the mayor should do a Mister Macross pageant,” said Kim and everybody started to laugh on the bridge.
“I’m serious, and then the RDF must have a representative,” said Kim.
“I agree with you, one for each squadron,” said Sammie.
“And one for each section, have you seen the techs of section 24?” said Vanessa.
“Oh yes!” said Kim and Sammie at the same time.
“Girls you are all lost, Skull one definitely will win if he enters the pageant,” said Claudia joking and everybody laughed again.
“How about Doctor Lang’s team?” said Lisa joking too and Karl looked at her with a laugh and reproachful face at the same time that made her laugh.
“That will be a close competition,” said Vanessa and everybody laugh again, and then Lisa’s panel sounded and she immediately returned to her station.
It was only the Prometheus to tell her that Hunter had already arrived to the ship and that the armored battloid had minimum damage. Lisa’s shift had already finished but she didn’t want to leave the bridge until the Captain called and told her that she could leave, because he would go to the bridge to check things. So when she checked that everything was in order and in place she left the bridge with Karl.
“Bye girls, it was a pleasure to meet you,” said Karl to the bridge girls.
“The pleasure was all ours,” said Sammie.
“Yes we are really happy to finally meet you,” said Vanessa.
“I’m happy to finally meet Lisa’s best friends,” said Karl and all the girls smiled to him.
“Bye girls, see you tomorrow and if you need anything just call me,” said Lisa.
“Yes Lisa, goodnight,” said all the girls who were waiting for the Captain to arrived so they could change their shift too.
“Goodnight,” said Lisa as she walked away from the bridge door.
“Ahhh,” sighed Sammie.
“Oh my God, now I see why Lisa is so in love with him!” said Kim.
“He is so cute!” said Vanessa.
“And soooo handsome!!” said Sammie.
“And did you see the way that he was looking at Lisa?” said Kim.
“I wonder if he might have a brother?” said Sammie and everybody started to laugh.

Lisa and Karl left the bridge and started to walk towards Lisa’s house.
“You were a sensation with the girls,” said Lisa.
“Yeah, you know me, all the girls are crazy for me,” said Karl winking at Lisa.
“Yeah I had forgotten that,” said Lisa smiling.
“They are good people and they admire you too,” said Karl.
“Karl,” said Lisa a little embarrassed.
“I was wondering,” said Karl and he stopped in his tracks “now that you are off of shift, can I kiss you?”
“How dare you to ask that of the first officer of the SDF-1,” said Lisa teasing Karl.
“And what will the first officer do?” asked Karl coming closer to Lisa.
“I don’t know. I’ll have to find a way to punish you for making that kind of proposition to the first officer.”
“Any punishment is worth a kiss from the first officer,” said Karl and put his arms around Lisa’s waist.
“Really?” said Lisa and Karl tried to kiss her, but she moved back with an evil grin in her eyes, not allowing him to kiss her.
“You will get nowhere with that, now that I have my two arms in good shape,” said Karl with his own evil grin.
“We’ll see,” said Lisa and she moved again, not allowing him to kiss her, but this time he grabbed her closer to him with a little bit more strength, making her laugh and use more strength in order to avoid his kiss. While trying to out maneuver him, she accidentally punched him in his left arm and a hint of pain immediately appeared on Karl’s face.
“Oh my God Karl, are you ok?” asked Lisa.
“Yes I’m fine,” said Karl trying to hide his pain.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you in your shoulder. I’m so sorry,” said Lisa with concern.
“It’s ok Lizie, it’s nothing.”
“Why don’t we go to the infirmary?” said Lisa.
“No, its ok, it will pass,” said Karl.
“But I hit you really hard, and they took the sling off just today. Why don’t we go?”
“I’ll be fine, really it’s just that I was caught off guard,” said Karl and smiled at Lisa.
“Oh come on Karl, don’t play the tough guy role in front of me. Why don’t we go to the infirmary so I can calm down?” said Lisa with a tender voice.
Karl just looked at her and smiled, “You know that I never can say no to you when you use that voice,” said Karl.
“Why do you think I used that voice?” said Lisa smiling.

When they arrived at the infirmary, Karl entered the ER unit and Lisa walked to the waiting room. She had tried to enter with Karl to the ER, but then she regretted it and decided to wait for him outside.
She was watching the TV and the late comments about the Miss Macross pageant when she saw Lieutenant Hunter walk out from the ER holding a small bag over his head.
She stood up and walked in his direction. After all, she had left the bridge with out knowing how his condition was when he landed on the SDF.
“Are you ok Lieutenant?” asked Lisa, making Rick turn in her direction and remove the ice bag from his forehead.
“Yeah I’m fine,” said Rick with a hard voice. His head was killing him, he felt like his head was about to explode in the back and he was upset because Minmei had won the pageant and for what he had seen while he was waiting to be attended in the ER, she was really enjoying the win and the attention of the media. And now he met the last person that he wanted to see that day, Commander Hayes.
“You should try putting a hot towel on your head before sleeping to stop the headache,” said Lisa raising an eyebrow.
“Excuse me?” asked Rick surprised.
“Your headache. It’s obvious that you smashed your head in combat; the hot towel will relax you before sleep and stop the spinning,” said Lisa.
“Thanks,” said Rick confused for one side because the Commander had said to him the exact same words that the doctor had said, and because she had noticed the fact that he had a pack of ice in his hands and she had cared about it.
“So I guess that the encounter with the recon ship wasn’t a friendly one?” said Lisa more serious now.
“It wasn’t. They attacked me as soon as I was close enough.”
“It was a shame that the MBS transmissions blocked ours, you probably would have needed back up.”
“It wasn’t truly necessary, I managed the situation in the end,” said Rick modestly.
“Yes you did, but either way I should have sent back up when the transmission was cut and the laser induction didn’t work.”
“Really Commander, it wasn’t a big fight out there. I look worse than I should.”
“Well then I hope that you don’t feel as bad as you look,” said Lisa with a hint of humor that took Rick completely by surprise.
“Actually I think I do,” answered Rick finally and they both shared a smile, “but most of it is my fault, the enemy didn’t cause as much damage as the new battloid, it took me a while to adjust to the new controls,” said Rick and Lisa only looked at him with a drastic expression.
“The armoured battloids are very complex machines,” she said seriously, “but I guess that Commander Fokker’s Little Brother can handle one,” said Lisa more softly.
“With some difficulties, but yes,” said Rick and then he added, “but the ship did the work on its own, it’s a great machine.”
“I guess so, Doctor Lang spent a lot of time developing it and it has the most advanced technology on it, but its just in the test stage,” Lisa was saying when Karl appeared by her side.
“And we really need to do a combat test for it,” said Karl and Lisa immediately turned in his direction with concern.
“Are you ok?” she asked and came closer to him.
“Yes I’m fine,” said Karl with a smile.
“Does your shoulder still hurt you?”
“No it doesn’t.”
“Are you sure? What did the doctor say?” asked Lisa looking at Karl in the eyes and completely forgetting that Rick was there.
“Yeah, I’m sure it was just one of the stitches,” he said and smiled at her with confidence and security and that calmed Lisa immediately.
“Good evening, Lieutenant Hunter,” said Karl looking in Rick’s direction.
“Good evening, Commander Riber,” said Rick seriously and feeling the pain of his head back again.
“I heard that you were talking about the new armored battloid,” said Karl.
“Yes, Lieutenant Hunter took one to combat tonight,” said Lisa remembering that Rick was in the room too.
“So it was you?” said Karl and looked at Rick, who gave him a questioning look “I was on the bridge.”
“Yes,” was all that Rick said.
“Then I will have to have a meeting with you tomorrow, to collect data about how the battloid fulfilled its functions,” said Karl.
“Isn’t that the work of Doctor Lang’s team?” asked Rick.
“Yes and I work with Doctor Lang. Actually I’m the one in charge of the test procedures of new weapons and battloids,” said Karl.
“Then I’ll be in your office tomorrow commander,” said Rick with no enthusiasm.
“I’ll be waiting for you,” said Karl.
“Well, then I think its time to leave. It’s really late and I think that everybody here needs to rest,” said Lisa.
“I agree with you,” said Karl and then he looked at Rick, “Goodnight Lieutenant,” he said and offered his hand to Rick.
“Goodnight,” said Rick.
“Goodnight Hunter,” said Lisa and bent her head.
“Goodnight Commander,” said Rick and Karl and Lisa started to walk away.
He couldn’t avoid looking at them as they walked away. She tenderly placed her arms around his right arm and looked at him with concern. Rick could even hear at the distance that she was asking him about his shoulder with a very sweet voice and that he kissed her on the forehead and then they disappeared from his gaze.
And there he was all alone in the waiting room, with a pack of cold ice and hearing the sound of the TV where the image of Minmei being crowned the Queen of Macross passed over and over again. There he was, with a killing headache that he had gotten because he was too caught up watching Minmei in the pageant to pay attention to his mission. He had been on the edge of death because of her. He had risked his life in order to maintain everything normal while the pageant was taking place and no one knew about that. She would never find out he had risked his life so she could be crowned Miss Macross. There she was smiling at the cameras, flirting with the journalist and there he was all alone in the waiting room of the infirmary, with no one to care about him, no one to ask him if he was ok, if his head was hurting him, no one to ask him what the doctor had said. Minmei should be here in the waiting room waiting for him, like Commander Hayes was waiting for Riber. And for Christ sake Riber was only suffering from pain in the shoulder and he had been hurt in combat. He deserved the kind of attention that Riber was getting, he was the one that put his life in danger and fought the enemy, not just sit there and collect data about battloids. But there he was, alone. Then he remembered that to Minmei he was just a friend, almost like a brother. And that wasn’t what he wanted to be for her; he didn’t want her as his sister, he wanted her to be like Commander Hayes was with Riber.

Lisa and Karl arrived at her house; both too tired to eat so they just sat on the couch and drank some coffee with some cookies.
“I’m so tired that I don’t even want to turn on the TV,” said Karl.
“Me too, plus there’s nothing good on. They are just transmitting the Miss Macross pageant over and over,” said Lisa as she crawled next to Karl.
“True, I had forgotten that,” said Karl as he tenderly kissed Lisa’s forehead and started to caress her hair, making her hold him closer.
“Are you sure that your shoulder is ok?” asked Lisa with a sleepy voice.
“Yes Lizie, it’s ok, it was just one of the stitches, but its ok, the doctor put a patch on it and it’s like a brand new one,” said Karl smiling at her.
“I was a little bit concerned,” said Lisa and she rested her chin on Karl’s chest so she could look at him in the eyes.
“I’m ok, you have nothing to worry about it,” said Karl and caressed Lisa’s cheeks. Lisa only looked at him in the eyes and that’s all that she needed to feel calm, to feel at home and relaxed, just looking in his eyes.
“I love you,” said Lisa shyly after a while and she could feel how her cheeks were turning red.
“I love you too Lizie,” said Karl and he held her tight. They remained holding each other for some moments until Karl kissed her forehead and they looked into each other’s eyes again and then they kissed.
The tender kiss that had started everything was turning deeper and deeper to the point that they were no longer sitting on the couch and all the tiredness of the days started to fade away. There was nothing else on their minds other than the one another, the sweet passionate kiss, the need to hold the other, to be close, and that electric sensation that only one could awaken in the other.
Suddenly Karl moved so he could rest his weight on his shoulder and look at Lisa who had moved to the same position to look at him. He caressed her nose with his and removed some hair from her face. She softly put her hand over his and looked him in the eyes, trying to find that calm that she felt that her heart was beating too fast to the point that she was breathing fast too. But she didn’t find that calm, she found only that he was in the same state as her and even when that should have caused in her the opposite effect to calming her down, she was calmed. He was with her and that was all that she needed.
Just then Karl stood up from the couch and in a gentle move lifted her from the couch, holding her in his arms, and started to walk in the direction of her bedroom.
Lisa was about to protest because she was worried that the stitches would come out again from his shoulder wound.
“I’m fine,” said Karl just as if he had read her mind and she only smiled at him.
When they arrived at her bedroom, Karl softly left her on the bed and searched for her eyes, when he found them he softly caressed her cheeks with the tips of his fingers and then stood up and walked to the windows and closed the curtains. Lisa remained on the bed unable to move. There was just too many things going on in her head and heart to allow her to move and as Karl was coming back to the bed her heart started to beat faster and faster.
He sat on the edge of the bed and softly moved away some hair from Lisa’s face and then he bent down closer to her, resting his arm on each side of her on the bed.
“I love you,” said Karl honestly, making her smile shyly and making her eyes sparkle.
“I love you,” said Lisa and she touched his face tenderly. Karl kissed her hand and then grabbed it in his. He bent down again until he was just a few inches away from her face, then he made a pause and a moment later they kissed again. They kissed as if with every kiss that they had shared they could recover all the time that they had lost.
Lisa broke the kiss and started to give him soft kisses on the neck while he tenderly caressed her right shoulder and held her even closer to him. When she stopped the kisses on his neck they kissed again with passion and then he looked at her in the eyes and held her, just held her.
He loved her with his entire soul, like nobody else and that’s why he knew it was too soon. He could feel her heart beat and he could feel that deep in her she was a bit scared, that it was too soon yet. It didn’t matter to him if he had to wait, he could wait forever for her. Just being with her was all that he needed, the rest was just a plus.
Lisa held him with strength and rested her head on his chest, just feeling him close. Hearing his heart beat, hearing him breath, was all that she need to be happy, to be secure. And in that calm that he gave him, in that security, in the love that he gave her, she started to feel sleepy, to feel relaxed, until finally she fell asleep in his arms.

To be continued…