fanfic_name = Separate Lives

chapter = 4

author = LisaVang

Rating = AP15


fanfic = CHAPTER FOUR

When Lisa quietly shuts down her personal computer at 0600 hours Rick was still sound asleep on her bed. She had slept on his shoulder feeling warm, loved and protected all night until she had to get up this morning at 0430 hours to finalize her report.

Last night had been incredible. Rick did make the world and all her worries, doubts and troubles go away except for them. Being with him was the most delightful and unexpected pleasure of her life. Warmth enveloped her, warmth and a blissful feeling that left her deliciously light and wanton, and she had to hug herself for the pure joy of it. Lisa knew no matter if she never saw him or loved him again she would have enough memories to last a lifetime.

All my live I will remember this... this moment in time, this incredible experience and this hazed of happiness that I have found with him.

Stretching Lisa got up and walked over to him and stared down at him. She glazed lovingly at the planes of his face, the high cheekbones, the long, long lashes, the slash of his nose and the sensual shape of his mouth.

He seemed so peaceful, so young and handsome. It’s hard to believe that he was only twenty-one years old. When she was that age, she had been so driven, ambitious and focused on being the best in the RDF that she hadn’t had time for anything else but work.

And so wrapped up in my grief for Riber that I practically shut down my heart until Rick....

She wanted to wake him and tell him again that she loved him, was proud of him and would miss him but she couldn’t bring herself to disturb him. Then she realized that Rick hadn’t said he loved her when she had declared her love for him. He had only said he cared and wanted her to come back. Sadness tinged her eyes.

Don’t ask for the moon and stars, Lisa. He doesn’t belong to you but to the fabulous Minmei. Just be happy with what you have at this moment. No regrets, remember, you promised yourself, you’ll never regret loving him.

A single tear slid down her cheek and she quickly wiped it away. Swallowing the pain away Lisa got up and walked to her closet. Opening it she pulled out one of her ten clean uniforms and gently laid it on her side of the bed. Once done she disappeared into her bathroom to take a quick shower.

Rick Hunter stirred. There was something wrong. When just a moment ago there had been something right-- something totally right for once in his life and he wondered what it was; then the memories of last night came flooding back to him.

Lisa Hayes had been in his arms! But she wasn’t anymore.

Instantly his eyes sprang opened and he sat up in bed. He was just about to call out her name when he heard her humming from the bathroom and then hearing the shower turned on and he smiled.

Last night had been incredible. He hadn’t felt this happy in a long time and being with Lisa had sooth an ached in his heart that he had always felt no matter where or who he was with. Part of him wished he’d never asked her to have dinner with him last night. Yet a part of him knew he would love her every day and night he had left of this lifetime whether they were together or not.

Great, Hunter! As if missing and feeling lost without Minmei these past two years wasn’t enough; you had to go and fall in love with Lisa too! Now you’re going to be miserable for the rest of your life if she doesn’t return.

“What are you doing up so early?” Lisa asked faintly fifteen minutes later when she came into the room and sat down next to him on the bed. “Today’s your day off. You hadn’t had one in weeks.”

She couldn’t help it but stare at him. He had hauled himself up against the pillows and the thin cotton sheet he had pulled over them last night had winded around his hips and thighs.

“Good morning to you too, Commander,” Rick said in a voice that made her knees weak, and unconsciously he moved a hand through her wet hair.

The way he was looking at her-- like he adored her pulled at her heart and she had to bite the inside of her cheek to make sure she wouldn’t cry. Suddenly shy, Lisa could only offer him a smile but when he met her eyes it spoke volumes to him.

He responded by pulling her toward him, having her straddling him and untying the belt of her terry red robe. He hadn’t planned on making love to her again but he couldn’t help himself, Lisa was so giving, warm and loveable.

An hour later, he was still in bed watching Lisa as she dressed and packed an overnight duffle bag.

“I made a hot pot of coffee earlier and had two cups already; help yourself to anything I have in the frig. I can’t believe I’m going to be late,” Lisa said as she slipped her heels on and took another look at herself in the full length mirror.

Grabbing her duffle bag, she walked over to him and lowered her mouth to his and kissed him gently. “I’ll see you later.” Then she stepped back, he let her go and she left.

-----------------------------

Rick Hunter had just finished paying the cashier for a bouquet of flowers he’d decided to pick up for Lisa along with some groceries when he heard the Macross paging voice paging him. He quickly found one of the military yellow com phones and identified himself.

“Rick? Where are you? I’ve been trying to get a hold of you forever?” Lisa said. “Rick I’m launching in 5 minutes.”

“What!” Looking at his watch, “it’s barely 0900 hours. You said your flight doesn’t leave until 1030 hours.”

“I know what I said, Rick. My departing time had to be bunked up because we’ve received new intel that twelve battlecruisers have separated from the main Zentraedi fleet. It’s as if they’re getting ready for another attack, so be careful when you go out there again. I don’t know what I’ll do if anything were to happen to you...”

Catching her breath, Lisa continued. “Anyway the Captain doesn’t want me getting caught in a battle so I have to leave now. I tried to contact you earlier but you weren’t at my quarters or yours. Rick, I’m leaving… I can see Max’s VT from my window. He and four others from Skull will be escorting my shuttle until we reach Earth’s orbit”

“Damn it, Lisa! This isn’t how it’s supposed to be. You’re supposed to see me later so I can give you some flowers,” he said as he stared at the bouquet of flowers in his hand. “That’s where I’ve been. I wanted to get you some flowers.”

Cradling the handset to her, Lisa felt tears in her eyes and butterflies in her stomach. “Rick…” She struggled for control of her emotions. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For making me feel…” she didn’t know the words to describe her feelings. “For making me feel beautiful and alive again.”

“Lisa, it’s you. You are beautiful…” he tried to say but she cut him off.

“We're launching! Good-bye, Rick, and … and please take care of yourself. I love…” But the circuit was dead before she could even finish and Rick felt like screaming at the unfairness of it all.

‘Why didn’t I insist on escorting her!’ he yelled at himself and made a mad dash for one of the observation decks. When he got there all he saw was a tiny cluster of distant lights.

Lisa…

---------------------

Khyron the Backstabber stared at the Micronian shuttle and its fighter escorts with glee. He had been given a direct order from Lord Breetai not to attack the SDF-1 again or be executed, but Breetai had not said anything about not attacking a little convoy.

“I want that shuttle but kill everything else!”

How I hate the Micronians and this stupid game of Breetai-- waiting!

If he had his way he would kill every last one of them. But what he hated most was the Micronian practice of males and females mingling with each other, and the way they show affection to each other by pressing their lips together. He hated that the most because it repelled him just as much as it fascinated him; for he often found himself thinking what it would be like to touch lips with a female.

Khyron’s men had learned never to question him. He was not known far and wide as the “Backstabber” or “Destroyer” for nothing. They were loyal to him not because they respected him but because they feared him.

Commander Khyron didn't fit the stereotypes of a brutal warlord; for he was young, almost youthful and beautifully handsome with his wavy blue hair and cold, dark purple eyes. But his handsomeness sometimes appears sinister, twisted and even down right evil when he was angry.

Some would described him as arrogant, rash, impulsive and spoiled but what they all agreed on was that he was ruthless, cold and almost sadistic in his killings whether they be friends or foes.

"Nothing can save them now" he sneered in disgust and delight. "All units, attack!"

---------------

“Captain!” Sammie said in an alarming voice. "Pods from the twelve battlecruisers that have separated from the main Zentraedi fleet are deploying and heading strait for the shuttle. The fighter escorts will be outnumbered, sir, there’s no way they can win against that number. It’s ten to one!”

Gloval said nothing as if he hadn’t heard Sammie at all and every eye on the bridge turned to him-- waiting for his order. They knew how much he liked Lisa and respected her as his First Officer. They waited and wonder what he was going to do or say for Lisa was more than just their First Officer; she was their friend, their sister and a colleague. She had saved their lives more than once with her quick thinking and courage.

Claudia almost blurted out a plea to send reinforcements but saw the tightening of the Captain’s jaw and remained quiet. She knew as well as the next person that the SDF-1 could not afford to risk an entire VT team just to save one shuttle and its five escorts. Therefore she was not surprised at all when Gloval issued his order.

“Order the shuttle and its escorts to take evasive action and return to the SDF-1 as soon as possible.”

“But sir!”

“Follow the Captain’s order Sammie!” Claudia reprimanded in a stern voice and Sammie quickly relayed the order.

--------------

Max Sterling pulled the lever that sent his Skull Two into Battloid mode and ordered the other VT pilots to take evasion maneuver gamma.

He knew no reinforcements would be coming from the SDF-1 or Earth this time and even if they did come, it would be too late already. And in that split second, he knew as clear as daylight that this fight would be his last unless a miracle happened. But it was unlikely and he accepted his death as calmly as any pilot would-- with spirit and bravado.

‘Today’s as good of a day as any to die,’ he thought to calmly but sighed with regret when he realized he was going to die without ever being in love.

In the shuttle’s armored cocoon, Lisa felt the ship rock as it took a direct hit from one of the pods. She couldn’t see anything so she prayed Max and the other pilots were doing okay against the enemy.

----------------------

“Captain, the shuttle is away from the fighting but there are six pods surrounding her. They have crippled her, sir,” Vanessa reported.

Gloval sat in his command chair and stared strait ahead of him, thinking and weighing the odds. “Sammie, how long would it take for the new armored Veritech to make it there?”

“Approximately four minutes, sir,” she replied quickly and with hope in her voice.

“Prepare it for launch and get Lieutenant Hunter to the hanger deck on the double!” Claudia was relaying the order even before Gloval’s words had died in the air.

-----------------

Gritting his teeth, Rick yelled at Sammie through the tac net. “What are you talking about? I have no idea of those codes or coordinates!”

“I’m sorry Lieutenant, you weren’t supposed to be on duty until tomorrow and I haven’t updated your codes yet,” Sammie said and devastation could be heard in her voice.

Even before Sammie had finished giving him the new codes he was already launched and speeding out to Lisa like the devil was chasing after him.

I’m coming, Lisa! Hold on!

--------------

Khyron was in no hurry to lead the attack for he wanted to watch and observe the Micronian ace pilot who had defeated him a couple of times in the past. He had to admit that the Micronian was good as he watch him kill of his men like they were annoying flies.

Wouldn’t it be sweet to blow him up into smithereens and throw it in Miriya Parino’s face? How I hate that annoying Quardrono ace pilot but not as much as her commander, that Zentraedi warlord, Azonia!

‘Yes, my Micronian vermin just move your Veritech a little bit more to the right... there!’ Khyron’s smile was full of malice and hatred. He was just about to pull the trigger when a newcomer arrived.

‘One more Veritech wouldn’t matter now,’ he laughed coldly to himself and took aim again.

But as quickly as Khyron had dismissed the newcomer, the fighter accelerated to unprecedented speeds and was in and out among the pods like nothing he had ever seen before. He watched in dismay as the fighter took out Zentraedi mecha two at a time without slowing down at all.

“Who the hell is he!” he barked at him men.

“We don’t know Lord Khyron. His mecha doesn’t match any computer ID in our database,” a pod pilot reported.

Angry beyond comprehension at having to withdraw again without a victory, Khyron turned to the pilot who had just given him the report on the newcomer’s mecha and blasted him to pieces.

“Grab the shuttle and retreat! If any of you come back without the shuttle I will execute each and every one of you personally. I will not go back empty handed!”

With that order he turned and withdrew back to his battlecruiser.

There will be another time Micronian! This I swear, I will kill each and every last one of you or my name isn’t Khyron the Destroyer!

----------------

“Max! Are you okay?” Rick asked as he reached the escort team now down to just Max and Jenkins.

“Skipper, you don’t know how happy I am to see you,” Max said and took a deep breath. “For a minute there I really thought today was the day for me.”

‘I guess there is a God,’ he said to himself and silently thanked him. ‘And maybe, just maybe I will get a chance to fall in love after all.’

“Lieutenant! The shuttle!” Jenkins shouted over the com.

Rick turned and saw six pods carrying it off while ten were standing guard.

“Lisa!” he screamed and hit his thruster. Max and Jenkins did the same but he knew it was too late. Yet a part of him refused to believe it and once again he went flying at the pods that came at him, try to deter him from getting to Lisa.

“Shuttle craft-1 do you read me? Come in Shuttle craft-1! Lisa! Lisa, are you there? Answer me! This is Rick!”

Nothing.

“Rick! Stop!” Max’s voice came over the com to him. “We can’t follow them. It’s too late, skipper. The Commander’s gone. There will be another day. Come back, Rick.”

“I refused to believe that, Max! Lisa’s not gone. She’s not dead!” Rick yelled back at Max but stopped nevertheless. All around him, all he could see was black space and in the far distance a tiny cluster of lights which dwindle into the darkness after a few minutes.

Lisa! Don’t give up, do you hear me? Stay alive. I promise I’ll find you!

State = Continuará/To Be Continue

feedback = Sí/Yes