Fanfic Name / Nombre del Fanfic: Choices and Aces

Chapter / Capitulo: Chapter 22

Author / Autor: Anonymoose_Au

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

Romance

Action / Accion

Alternate Universe / Universo Alterno

Fanfic: “If we don’t end war, war will end us.” Quote from John Cabal in HG Wells’s movie Things To Come, 1936 
 
*** 
 
Donald Hayes had not been this nervous for many, many years...in fact not since he was a very young man, waiting in a restaurant for the most beautiful woman he had ever seen to arrive. He had been sure that she wouldn’t... 
 
His musings were interrupted by his aide, who bundled up in a uniform overcoat, cleared his throat to get Hayes’s attention. 
 
“Admiral, the SDF-1 has reported that the attack on the shuttle has been successfully fought off. But the shuttle is running twenty minutes behind schedule. Do you want to go back to base? It’s awful cold out here.”  
 
“No, you can go back, but I’ll wait out here, it’s a nice day,” he replied, absently, looking up at the clear sky for sign of the shuttle. 
 
His aide looked at him as if he were mad, but returned to the military jeep parked not far away and headed back for the warmth of the small out post that was the only above ground structure of Alaska Base, such was the secrecy that needed to be maintained by the United Earth Government. 
 
Burrowing his hands deeper into his pockets, Donald turned back to his reminiscing. Lisa’s mother, his wife Andrea HAD arrived at the restaurant, bestowing a brilliant smile upon him and she sat down asking if she was late. He had assured her that she wasn’t, he was just early, very early, as he always was. 
 
They had got along so well, despite having only met before then in the confines of Political Studies classes at Harvard. 
 
It had been a whirlwind courtship, soon they were married, and not too long after that they had had Lisa. 
 
Everything had been so happy for five years, until the diagnosis had come... 
 
At first Andrea had been upbeat, positive as ever that she would beat the cancer and life would go on. But as the months passed and the chemotherapy failed to stop its spread, she became weaker and weaker…She had still kept her sense of humour and had fought to survive, for him, for Lisa. 
 
But the struggle was one that couldn’t be won, and not too long after Lisa’s seventh birthday, Andrea Hayes had died peacefully in her sleep at home. 
 
Donald had been devastated...extremely devastated, Andrea had been so warm and vibrant, a far cry from his own parents, who were strict and whilst they cared, had not been demonstrative in it. 
 
But Donald regretted his reaction to Andrea’s death now, throwing himself into his work, rising quickly through the ranks. 
 
But he had left Lisa behind. 
 
Oh, they had still lived in the same house, and Donald had managed to turn up to the end-of-year award ceremonies and her school, where she picked up at least one award for academic achievement. But he had not really spent much time with her, he had not asked her how she felt, or what she wanted to do with her life. In regards to the latter, he simply assumed that she, like every member of the family before (excepting spouses), would go into the military. 
 
She had, of course, and she was the finest officer anyone could imagine, something he was truly proud of. 
 
But he still felt their relationship was lacking. And it certainly hadn’t been helped by the cool treatment he’d given her when the SDF-1 had returned to Earth. He had spent many nights berating himself for his behaviour, trying to come up with excuses for it, and mostly blaming Gloval. Once the two men had been friends, but as the SDF-1 reconstruction project had gone on the relationship had deteriorated more and more. Donald couldn’t quite say why, since it was not as though he was jealous of Gloval’s position as Captain of the alien ship. 
 
He heaved and impatient sigh and quickly pull his left hand out of his pocket to check the time. 
 
Just ten minutes to go... 
 
*** 
 
Rick’s mind was in a whirl, he still couldn’t believe that Lisa was gone, he kept thinking of things he wanted to say her. 
 
He and Max had gone straight to the mess on their return, but Rick didn’t have the faintest idea what he actually selected. 
 
“That new FAST pack Veritech sure was something, Boss,” Max was saying, “what kind of speed did you get out of it?” 
 
“Huh?” Blinking Rick focused his attention on his friend. 
 
Max adjusted his glasses. “Never mind,” he shook his head. “What’s the matter, you seem really distracted...is it Minmei?” 
 
Rick actually hadn’t spared a single thought for Minmei since that morning, he didn’t know how to respond, since he didn’t want to share his mixed-up feelings about Lisa with anyone. Especially not Max, who had an unnervingly simplistic way of looking at relationships, probably because he had never really been in one. 
 
“Err…so…how’s the hunt for that green haired girl going?” Rick blurted out, more to distract Max rather than because he wanted to know. 
 
Max heaved a sigh and rested his chin in his hands. “I haven’t seen her for a whole week. It’s unbelievable, you know, nobody seems to know who she is and where she lives! I come from a small town, but fifty thousand people isn’t really that many, surely everyone knows everyone in Macross!” 
 
Rick shrugged. “I guess not, or maybe she changed her image dramatically or something and decided to go into hiding. I mean, green hair?” 
 
Max gave him a look. “What does that have to do with anything? I LIKE her hair, it’s beautiful, she’s beautiful.” 
 
“Well, uh, I guess,” Rick suppressed an urge to scratch his head in utter confusion. He hadn’t seen the girl for himself, and couldn’t imagine how she could possibly be attractive. But to each his own he supposed. 
 
“You know, maybe you should take out an ad,” Rick suggested, feeling slightly bad about inadvertedly insulting the guy. 
 
“An ad?” Max looked completely baffled. 
 
“Yeah, like the ‘Personals’, 'Tall blond flying ace seeks curvy girls for fun and drinks -'“ 
 
“Lies, all lies!” A voice declared from behind Rick. 
 
Max saluted. “Commander.” 
 
Rick turned to see Roy ambling over, he took a seat next to Max. “So what’s all this? You think someone like ME would need to stoop to ‘Personal Ads’?” Roy folded his arms. 
 
“It was just an example for Max here,” Rick defended himself, “and plenty of people use ‘Personal Ads’.” 
 
“Why would you need one, Max?” Roy turned to him. “As a certified RDF ace you’ll have no trouble picking up.” 
 
“I think I’m a certified SOMETHING,” Max heaved a sigh. “There’s this girl in town, I’ve never spoken to her and it seems no-one else has either. But I’d give anything to meet her!” 
 
Roy looked intrigued. “Really? A mystery woman onboard? Hmmm...” he stroked his chin thoughtfully. 
 
“Aren’t you married now?” Rick asked. 
 
“That’s not something I’m likely to forget, Rick,” Roy rolled his eyes. “I’m just saying, the whole thing sounds interesting. I mean, God knows we could use something else to talk about aside from Lynn Kyle’s head injury.” 
 
Rick had been prepared to object, but he certainly couldn’t to THAT. For the past week when the MBS wasn’t talking about the rebuilding of the city, or the alien defectors, it was talking about Lynn Kyle, who was still in hospital. 
 
“What does this girl look like?” 
 
“She’s tall,” Max began, “with green eyes and a real sense of style –“ 
 
“She’s got green hair,” Rick felt the need to point out the most pertinent fact. 
 
Roy raised his eyebrows. “Green hair, huh? Sounds like she’d be pretty hard to lose in a crowd.” 
 
“You’d think so,” Max shrugged. “But like I was just telling Rick, I haven’t seen her in days.” 
 
“Hmmm...” Roy looked to be deep in thought. 
 
“Roy will get to the bottom of this,” Rick promised, “if there’s anyone who knows women, it’s him.” 
 
Roy glared at him, then turned back to Max. “Any ideas what sort of thing this lady might be in to?” 
 
Max shrugged. “Like I said, I’ve never even SPOKEN to her…I think she went and saw 'Small White Dragon'.” 
 
“Well...her and most of the city,” Roy shook his head, “that’s nothing to go on.” 
 
“See, a ‘Personal Ad’ is looking better and better now, isn’t it,” Rick gloated, folding his own arms. 
 
“Hmmm...well, I guess we could,” Roy turned to Max, “what do you say.” 
 
Max winced. “I don’t want the whole ship reading an ad selling myself.” 
 
“You wouldn’t need to make it SLEAZY, it’s not like you’re looking for a hooker or something.” 
 
“You never know,” Rick said before he could stop himself. 
 
Max and Roy both stared at him. 
 
“Uh...” 
 
“It’s nice of you two to help,” Max said, sincerely, “but I’d rather just keep looking out for her on my own. But hey!” His eyes brightened. “We’re all off duty, right? Why don’t we go to the Arcade?” 
 
Rick looked extremely dubious.  
 
“Got a hankering for Street Fighter II?” Roy asked. 
 
“Hey, it’s a lot of fun, I can’t believe you two never played arcade games!” 
 
“Of course we didn’t, we were too busy ACTUALLY flying too,” Roy laughed. 
 
“You should try it, Commander.” 
 
“I’d love to, but I got things to do,” Roy got to his feet, turning to Rick. “But Little Brother here certainly should, you need a pick-me-up.” 
 
Rick looked from Roy’s face to Max’s and finally shrugged. “Fine, can’t be any worse than what I was planning to do…” 
 
“You really need to work on your acceptance of invitations, Little Brother,” Roy said, patting Rick on his shoulder, before turning to leave with a wave. 
 
*** 
 
As the shuttle touched down, Lisa took a deep breath to steady her nerves. 
 
“The Shuttle has landed, Commander, you can now begin disembarking.” The co-pilot announced from the front seat. 
 
“Thank you,” she nodded, and unbuckled her seatbelt, grabbing her briefcase from the floor she put on a long fur lined coat and a pair of thermal boots in preparation for the cold winds outside. 
 
“OK, Lisa,” she whispered to herself, “its time to face them all.” Turning she spoke to the pilots. “I’m ready.” 
 
The shuttle door opened and Lisa clenched the collar of her coat together as the biting wind rushed in and the disembarking steps were rolled up. 
 
To her shock she saw her father there on the tarmac waiting. 
 
'Why is he here?' Part of her was touched, but a bigger part felt a swell of anger at the way he had dismissed her report and his old friend, Captain Gloval. 
 
Holding her head high, she climbed down the steps, as she reached the bottom she thought her father murmured her name, but surely not. Not Admiral Hayes, every inch an officer. 
 
She set her briefcase down and rendered her sharpest salute. “Admiral, Commander Lisa Hayes of the SDF-1 reporting to United Earth Council with a special report.” 
 
The smile on her father’s face faltered, then he gave her a sharp nod and a salute of his own. 
 
“Welcome to Earth, Commander, I look forward to hearing your report,” he responded, just as curtly. 
 
Lisa picked up her briefcase and with her father beside her, the two walked towards a military jeep that had just pulled up to pick them up. 
 
As they sat together in the backseat, Lisa wondered what was colder, the winds from the Artic, or the relationship between her and her father. 
 
*** 
 
In just two hours, Miriya had amassed a huge amount of tokens. She had not realised it at first, but whilst the micronians made their soldiers pay for their training, the particularly good ones were rewarded by having their money returned, and then some. 
 
As she sent another simulated alien pod into oblivion a child who had come over to observe in her action let out a breath. “WOW!” 
 
His admiration at her prowess was the first understandable response she had had from the micronians since her arrival upon their ship. 
 
Miriya had the briefest thought that perhaps the micronians and Zentraedi were not so different after all, but then immediately banished the traitorous thought. It was completely ridiculous. 
 
Shaking her head she returned to the simulation, she had more important things to think about, like continuing to increase her ‘score’ represented by the numbers that continued to swiftly rise. And the child continued making noises of approval as she continued her decimation of the pods. 
 
Soon other micronians were coming over to watch her, distracted from their own simulation training, to see her at work. 
 
Slowly, her pride in her abilities and her confidence had been returned to her, thanks to these simulations...she was almost tempted to thank the male behind the counter! It was thrilling indeed, to have these micronians awestruck by her ability, and extremely satisfying that they had no idea who she was, that soon she would be full-sized again and with her new knowledge of their way of life and their mecha would be more deadly then ever. 
 
“Woo! You go, girl!” A female called from the sidelines as Miriya dispatched a particularly skilful Officer’s Pod. She imagined that it was Khyron. 
 
As she reached the end of the ‘level’ more tokens fell from the slot in the machine. Gathering them up, she noticed that her first tray was completely full. 'What do I do now?' 
 
With an imperious gesture she had seen micronians use in their ‘restaurants’ she held up her arm and snapped her fingers, calling. “Excuse me.” 
 
The most oddly dressed micronian she’d ever seen came over to her, he wore green goggles and his bright red hair stuck up from his head in a line. She wondered briefly what crime against the fleet he had committed to be forced to wear a uniform like that. 
 
“Yes?” He spoke in a dour tone.  
 
“Do you have anymore trays?” Miriya gestured to the one of the floor next to her. “This one seems to be full.” 
 
The male’s skin took on a decidedly pale shade and he opened his mouth, only to close it and nod. He scurried off, head down and returned with another red tray that he all but shoved into her hands before hurrying off to the back of the large room through a door. 
 
'What odd behaviour,' Miriya thought, and from the looks of the micronians watching, they thought so too. 
 
But she had more important things to do, like continuing her training. With a shrug she dropped the tokens into the new tray and set it down beside the first one and returned to the simulation. 
 
*** 
 
Lisa sat stiffly beside her father as the elevator descended. She had never been claustrophobic, but something about Alaska Base made her feel incredibly uncomfortable. Or perhaps it was her father. Ever since her arrival, he had been staring at her with an expression she couldn’t fathom and he hadn’t even asked to see the report. 
 
'What are you doing?' Lisa asked herself, 'This is your father, just ask.' 
 
That inner voice sounded a lot like Claudia’s and it also sounded right. Lisa took a deep breath to steady her nerves and then took the plunge. 
 
“Father, are you all right?” 
 
He gave a brief start, as though waking from a dream. “Hmmm, what?” 
 
“Well, you’ve been staring at me since I arrived,” Lisa explained, “am I wearing my uniform incorrectly?” She attempted to inject some humour into the situation. 
 
Her father made a gruff sound, then smiled. “No, of course not, you look as impeccable as always and more like your mother each time I see you.” 
 
Lisa ducked her head, she knew her father was sincere; he always was when he talked of Mama. 
 
“And you’re looking…um…”Lisa had been about to say ‘well’, but looking closely, she wasn’t so sure. He looked somewhat pale ad had dark circles under his eyes. “Is the Council going well?” She asked instead. 
 
Her father immediately heaved a deep sigh. 
 
“Sometimes I don’t know,” he said in a voice almost too low for her to catch. 
 
She was surprised; could it be that her father was reconsidering his stance? 
 
But Lisa did not want to allow herself to hope too much. 
 
Finally, the lift stopped and Lisa had to restrain herself from rushing out as soon as the doors opened. Instead, she followed her father, they turned down a short corridor, arriving at his office. 
 
He took a seat behind his desk and Lisa placed the brief case on top of it, flicking open the latches and raising the lid. 
 
Inside was a vid-recording, medical reports and the report, gathering them up she passed them to her father. 
 
“This is the information we’ve collected on the aliens so far, almost two dozen defected to the SDF-1 a week ago.” 
 
“What?!” Her father’s head shot up, his eyes wide. “Defectors?” 
 
Lisa nodded, briskly. “A number of them are so similar looking to humans that they can blend in with us without anyone knowing.” 
 
If possible, her father looked even more stunned, getting to his feet, vid-recording in hand he went to the player and loaded it in. 
 
Then he picked up the medical reports and watched as the results from the various tests that had been performed on the Zentraedi flashed on screen. 
 
“Amazing,” her father murmured as he took it all in. “Incredible...I never would have imagined…” 
 
From her seat Lisa felt her heart lifting, deep down she had always known her father was a fair and reasonable man. Now, he would come through, not just for her, but for Gloval and for all aboard the SDF-1. 
 
She brushed away a small tear of happiness. 
 
*** 
 
Sammie had never been so relieved to get off duty in her whole life. That morning had been an exercise in how much anxiety a person could have; she didn’t know how Lisa survived. 
 
“Commander Hayes better be back by the end of the week,” she huffed to Vanessa and Kim. “I don’t think I can take this for much longer.” 
 
“You’re such a DEDICATED officer, though,” Kim giggled in mock protest. “What would we do without you?” 
 
“Oh, be quiet,” Sammie pouted. 
 
“You know what we should do,” Vanessa piped up, looking to avoid a fight between her two best friends. 
 
“What?” Sammie and Kim turned to her. 
 
“Visit Rico, Konda and Bron, we haven’t seen them for a few days after all.” 
 
Sammie’s and Kim’s faces lit up. “You’re right!” Kim cried. 
 
“They live right next to the base, let’s go!” Sammie agreed, almost breaking into a run, but Vanessa took her arm. 
 
“Hey, slow down, don’t you think we should get dressed up in something nice?” She winked. “After all, we’ve got to keep those boys on their toes.” 
 
“But of course!” A wide smile broke over Sammie’s face. 
 
“Not that we need any help,” Kim remarked, tossing her head back dramatically and putting the back of a hand to her forehead. 
 
“But any excuse to dress up is a good one,” Vanessa finished. 
 
Laughing the three linked arms and skipped off in the direction of the quarters. 
 
They emerged a little while afterwards, dressed in the latest fashions, having brought up while shopping for bridesmaid dresses. 
 
Still arm in arm they headed to the small complex that housed the Zentraedi defectors. 
 
Almost before they rang the buzzer, the door was flung open revealing a group of Zentraedi. 
 
“Females!” The one who answered the door yelped. 
 
“Do you three know Minmei?” 
 
“What do those uniforms you’re wearing represent?” 
 
“Can you sing for us?” 
 
“Woah!” Vanessa exchanged a look with Sammie and Kim. 
 
Sammie putting a big smile on her face stepped forward. “It’s so nice to meet you all, are Rico, Konda and Bron in?” 
 
The Zentraedi seemed momentarily befuddled by her smile, some even going so far as to BLUSH! 
 
“Sammie, Vanessa, Kim!” A familiar voice called and at the very back of the group an arm waved, then Bron came into sight and the top of Konda’s head. 
 
“Come on,” Rico’s voice grumbled, “let us through, let us through.” 
 
Slowly the group parted and the three ex-spies appeared, wide grins widening even further when they caught sight of the Bridge Bunnies clothes. 
 
“Hey guys!” Kim greeted, grabbing Konda’s hand. 
 
“Oooh,” the Zentraedi gasped. 
 
Sammie, Vanessa and Kim darted nervous looks at each other. 
 
“Uh, let’s go talk somewhere...private,” Vanessa declared, taking Bron’s arm. 
 
“Oooh,” the Zentraedi gaped at them. 
 
“Yeah, let’s,” Sammie grabbed Rico’s arm and Kim throwing a look at the group at the door, the six started away. 
 
“Tell us if you press lips!’ One of the Zentraedi called. 
 
“Huh?” The Bridge Bunnies blinked almost stopping in their tracks. 
 
Rico, Konda and Bron threw silencing looks over their shoulders, but it was all ready too late to stay out of trouble. 
 
*** 
 
Max had once again slaughtered him. 
 
Not that that particularly surprised Rick, apart from the fact he’d never played Indy 5000, there was the fact that his mind was going in circles. 
 
'Lisa...Minmei...Lisa...' 
 
He watched as the tokens spilled out of the slot and Max caught them in a red tray, actually licking his lips. 
 
It was no wonder either, ten tokens equalled on Macross Dollar and anything extra a soldier could get was well worth it. 
 
“Man, look at THAT!” Rick shook his head at the avalanche of gold coloured tokens. 
 
“I know, isn’t it great?” Max laughed. “I always get more than I can carry away.” 
 
“Well, you certainly left me in the dust,” Rick replied. And five bucks short. 
 
Max grinned, the tokens finally stopped coming, and a good thing too, the red tray was full to overflowing. 
 
“I don’t know about you, but I can’t afford anymore of this,” Rick got to his feet, “thanks for bringing me here though, it was fun.” 
 
'Well, as much fun as I can have right now.' 
 
“Don’t worry, though, you just need to get to know the games, with a little bit of practice you’ll be scoring as many tokens as me!” 
 
Rick sincerely doubted that, but appreciated Max saying so. 
 
Suddenly, Max stopped short on the steps almost dropping his tray. “That girl, sitting at that game!” 
 
“Huh?” Rick spotted her quickly, with that green hair she was hard to miss. “Oh yeah...green hair, right?” 
 
“Isn’t she INCREDIBLE?” Max breathed. “She’s the one I’ve been seeing EVERYWHERE! Just look at her!” 
 
Rick did, but still couldn’t really see it. “Well, I guess she’s sorta attractive.” 
 
“SORTA?!” Max looked at Rick as HE were the insane one. “If only I could find some reason to talk to her,” he muttered as if to himself. Then his blue eyes lit up. “I know! Maybe I can get her in a game with me!” 
 
Rick shook his head, Max really had no idea, but before he could say so, his friend had all but vaulted down the rest of the steps and was at the girl’s side. 
 
“Hello, I was...uh...wondering if you’d like to play with me,” Max began, his normally soft voice loud with nerves. “From what I see of your winnings I think we’d be pretty evenly matched, whaddya say?” 
 
Rick shook his head, clearly Max had no idea how to flatter a girl. 
 
But the green hair girl didn’t leave in huff, instead she eyed Max’s tray, which was almost spilling over with tokens. 
 
“Would you be willing to bet all that?” She asked and Rick had to admit that she had a very nice voice. 
 
Max seemed to agree, he was almost knocked off his feet. “Sure am!” He set down his tray and sat in the chair across from her. “This is great, I know we’re gonna have a great game!’ 
 
Rick wasn’t too sure, form the look that the girl was giving, he sensed she was one who took games VERY seriously.

Continue / Continua: Yes / Si