chapter = 20

author = Dwparsnip

dedicate = Carla...who isn't feeling well as I write this. I told you to get better!!!! Please.

:)

Rating = AP15

Type = Romance

fanfic =

Rick was dreaming:

Lisa was facing him as she got ready to say her vows to him. They had written their own vows and as Lisa started to speak, her voice sounded to him like they came straight from the heavens. He didn’t understand why he did, but he knew what she was going to say, so instead of really paying attention to her words, he concentrated on the sweet sound of her voice. It filled him with feelings like hope, peace and limitless love… feelings he didn’t know he had left after so many years of death and destruction. He watched her lips move as she spoke. She had decided against lipstick, and in his humble opinion, it was the perfect choice. Her lips were naturally wonderful, and he had always felt that lipstick lessened their beauty instead of added to it. He moved his gaze up to her emerald eyes. She had decided on just the smallest touch of eye shadow, just enough to highlight her normally bright eyes, and they shined now. They always did, but now they were beaming, and the moistness of tears of happiness gave them an extra brilliance. He smiled, and her voice woke him out of his reverie.

“Rick, it’s important that you listen to what I’m about to say”, she said quietly.

He froze the smile on his face. He still didn’t know how he knew, but he did know that what she just said wasn’t right. It was out of place.

He blinked and he was standing alongside Lisa as she addressed the assembled forces of the REF on the day before the Expeditionary mission left for Tirol. She was reading the speech that she had prepared for the occasion, and again, for some reason he knew her speech word for word. He watched his wife, Admiral Lisa Hunter, soldier and leader, speak with unbridled passion about the need for their mission and the pride she felt in each and every one of them. He waited for her to continue with her address, but instead of what he remembered had happened she turned to him and said quietly, “Look at them, Rick. They look to you for guidance. They need you to be strong.” He raised his hands up and rubbed his eyes…

…And when he took them down again he suddenly found himself in some sort of medical room. He looked around and recognized the room as the one aboard the SDF-3 in which Lisa gave birth to their son. He felt the surgical mask on his face and looked down to find himself dressed in a surgical gown.

“Rick!” Terror gripped his soul as he turned sharply to where to where his wife’s voice came from. He had never heard her voice holding so much pain. He went to her, took her hand, and gave her all the strength and encouragement he could. A few minutes later, Jean placed their newborn son on Lisa’s chest. As the tears flowed down her cheeks, she looked up at Rick and said, “You have to be strong, Rick.” Her face became serene as she looked down at their son. “You have to be strong for me and for your son. I know you can do it, Rick, you can do it for us…”

Her last five words echoed as a bright light overtook him, and when the light faded, she was holding his arm at the celebration banquet that they held after the defeat of the Invid Regent. They stood at the edge of the dance floor, watching their friends dance away the evening. Max was dancing with Miriya, and she squealed in surprise as he dipped her suddenly. Jean and Vince laughed as they saw the Sterlings, and Lisa leaned over close to Rick and whispered in his ear, “They will need you to be strong.” He was puzzled by what she said, and as he turned to ask her what she meant the music died away, the people disappeared and everything else faded out of existence. All that remained was Lisa and him. She turned to face him, and she said lovingly, “You will have to be strong, my love…for me, for Roy, for your friends and for those under your command. People need you, they will need you to be their strength, just as you have been mine for so long.” She came closer to him and put her arms around his neck and said, “Watch out for Sue, Rick…be careful…and be strong.” He looked at his wife and wondered why now, of all the times, she would bring up the name of the woman they both distrusted so much. He was about to ask her just that when she said lovingly, “You will have to be strong, my love. Remember, I will always love you.” Before he could reply she kissed him. The kiss was sweet, and when she pulled away from him, it was as though she was taking the air out of his chest. He smiled and looked into her eyes…and nearly jumped out of his skin, for looking back at him weren’t the warm emerald eyes of his wife, but the cold hazel eyes of Sue Graham. He started to back away from her, but he could only do so slowly as his feet suddenly felt like lead, and as he got a couple of steps away he heard Lisa’s voice repeat in the distance, “Watch out for Sue, Rick…be careful…”

Rick opened his eyes and sat up in a panic. He looked around in the low light and realized that he was on the couch. ‘It was a dream’, he thought with a combination of sadness and relief. Where did Graham come from? He remembered Lisa in his dream, and even as the sadness began to fall over him, he remembered her words: ‘You will have to be strong my love.’ And he forced the sadness away and stood up. His eyes fell upon the recliner, and as he realized what he saw, he smiled.

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

Max carried in his hands a tray from the Mess on which was three cups of coffee and an assortment of breakfast goodies, goodies like croissants, toast, eggs, bacon, and more. The chefs in the Mess were more than accommodating when Max asked them to get some things together for Rick. Everyone felt a deep sense of loss with Lisa’s death, from the most junior engineer up to the command crew, and out of respect for Lisa and respect for Rick’s grief, everyone stepped up to do what they could for him.

He had had a restless night. When he slept, if he could call it that, he would dream of Lisa and the dreams would always end in a way that would wake him up. When he woke up, he would remember Lisa, and would have problems getting back to sleep. It was a vicious little circle for a while.

Finally, he stood in front of Rick’s door and the tray slipped a little. Max cursed loudly and contemplated whether to knock or just go in before the tray ended up on the deck. The decision became moot however when the door was opened for him. On the other side stood Rick, who brought his index finger up to his lips to tell Max to be quiet. Max nodded and when Rick stepped aside, he walked in and went straight to the kitchen. He placed the tray on the counter as Rick walked in.

He studied Rick’s features and was pleasantly surprised to see that it looked as though he was doing better and that he had at least gotten some sleep. He asked quietly, “Where’s Miriya, Boss?”

Rick moved to the kitchen doorway, motioned for Max to join him and looked out into the living room. Max joined him and looked out as well and he smiled. There was his wife, lying down in the recliner, which was reclined back as far as it could go, with a blanket pulled up over her head so far that the only parts of her that were visible were her feet. She was so well hidden that he never even noticed her when he walked in.

Rick whispered, “I was on the couch, again, and when I woke up I looked over and all I could see were her feet. That was twenty minutes ago.” Max started to go into the living room but Rick grabbed him by the shoulder and said quietly, “Let her sleep, Max.” Rick smiled and added, “She’s earned it.”

Max nodded and followed Rick back into the kitchen. Rick eyed the tray and asked, “Is one of these cups for me, Captain?”

Max smiled and replied, “Of course, Boss.” He watched as Rick picked up the cup and took a sip. Rick smiled and said, “I needed this. Thanks, Max.”

Max placed his right hand on Rick’s shoulder and said, “No problem, Rick.” He removed his hand and picked up one of the remaining cups of coffee and one of the croissants. He took a bite of the pastry and looked at Rick, who was looking at him with an amused expression on his face.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you eat one of those”, said Rick lightheartedly. Max, with his mouth full mumbled, “When you’re…as hungry as I am…you would eat anything.”

Rick smiled and took another sip of his coffee. He looked at the floor and said, “Thank you, Max.” He looked up and saw Max’s confused expression and he added, “Thank you for being there for me and Roy. I don’t know what I would have done without you, old buddy, and I’ll never forget it.”

Max swallowed his food and washed it down with a sip of coffee. “It was my absolute pleasure. You would have done the same for me, Rick. Besides, I owe you and Lisa more than I could ever possibly tell you.”

Rick smiled and Max had to ask. “You seem to be doing a lot better, Boss. How are you feeling?”

Rick was silent for a moment, and Max was beginning to regret asking the question when Rick began to speak. “I am doing a little better.” He leaned against the counter and continued. “After you left last night, Miriya and I talked about Lisa again for hours, and I had a dream, Max…a really weird one.”

“That seems to be the norm rather than the exception these days, Rick”, quipped Max, and to his joy Rick smiled.

“I dreamt about mine and Lisa’s wedding, the day before the REF left Earth, the day Roy was born and the day of the victory banquet.”

An interested look came upon Max’s face. “Those were all important times in your life, Rick. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that you would…”

“But that’s the thing, Max. The dream was an exact replica of those events except for Lisa.” Rick could see the confusion on Max’s visage, and he explained, “The day Roy was born, for example. I remember when they put him in her arms for the first time; she looked at him, smiled, cried and looked at me. When she looked at me, she said ‘Isn’t he gorgeous?’ I laughed, hauled down my mask, looked at her and said, ‘He’s a boy. He isn’t gorgeous, he’s handsome.’ We both had a laugh and I kissed her, and told her how much I loved her. In my dream, when she looked at me, she said, ‘You have to be strong for me and for your son. I know you can do it, Rick, you can do it for us.’” Rick took another sip of coffee and continued. “At every occasion, instead of saying what I remember she said, she told me to be strong, that people needed me. And then she warned me about Sue Graham.”

That got Max’s attention and he almost gagged on a piece of croissant. “Graham?”, he asked, trying to ignore the sour taste in his mouth caused by speaking the woman’s name.

Rick nodded. “I don’t know, Max. Lisa was telling me to be careful…and to be strong.” He closed his eyes for a second, and when he opened them again, he spoke quietly. “It didn’t seem like a dream. It seemed so real, like she was there, like we were still connected. It felt exactly the same in that dream as it did the last time I talked to her in person the morning she…the morning that she died. She kept telling me to be strong…for her, for Roy, for you and for everyone in the fleet.”

“I’ve been thinking about it since I woke up, and it occurs to me that I wasn’t the only person affected by her…by her loss. I know that you, Miriya, Jean and Vince are hurting, along with Fraser and Forsythe. Everybody has been affected.” He paused and tried to find the right words. “Lisa said to me once that one of the things she loved most about me was that I always wanted to help people. It seems to me that there is a ship full of people that need my help, and I at least have to try. For them, for myself and for Lisa.” He looked at Max and said quietly, “Now don’t get me wrong, my grasp on this newfound strength feels…tenuous…and I feel like the slightest little memory could send me crashing in a heartbeat… but I have to try to do it.”

“Do not forget that you are not alone, Rick”, came a voice from the kitchen doorway. Miriya stood there wiping the sleep out of her eyes, and as she rubbed the last of it away, she made her way to Max and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek. “Good morning, Maximillian.”

He held up the last cup of coffee, and as she took it from him she replied, “Good morning, beautiful.” He put his arm around her and looked at Rick. He saw the sad smile on Rick’s face and said, “We’re here for you Rick.”

Rick nodded his head and said, “I know, old buddy. I know.” Rick placed his coffee cup on the counter and stood up to his full height. He fixed Miriya with his most serious look and said, “Captain Sterling, it is now 0724 hours, and I am ordering you to go home and rest for a couple of hours. Report to me when you feel up to it. Depending on when that is, I’ll either be in the hangar deck, on the bridge, or here.”

Max exclaimed, “Boss!” as Miriya said, “Rick!” He cut off any further comment by holding up his hand. “I have to show the flag, guys. Show everyone that I’m okay”, he put on a half-smile, “even if I’m not, and that we have to go on.” He pointed at Max and said in an annoyed tone, “And that includes planning for a memorial service.” He softened his voice as he looked at Miriya and added, “Eventually.”

”Rick, you’re entitled to have some time, we all are.” Max was very worried about this idea. “Come on, Rick, you don’t have to do this.”

Rick smiled and approached his friend. He stood in front of Max and placed his hands on his shoulders. Rick looked into Max’s eyes with a burning intensity. “Yes I do, Max.”

Max knew it was pointless to argue, and to a point, he really didn’t want to. Rick had found some strength, and he wanted to make good use of it. He thought, ‘It may even do him some good to get out around and see the support.’ Max nodded his head and said, “All right. Where do you want to start?”

Rick squeezed Max’s shoulders, smiled and moved towards the doorway. As he walked into the living room he said, “The Situation Room. It’s still early and there won’t be too many people around at first. I want to talk to Vince, make sure everything is okay, and there are a couple of little things that I need to take care of before I do anything else. Then I want to go to the hangar deck, and then the bridge.” He looked back at Max and smiled weakly. “If I get through that much, I’ll be satisfied.” He looked at Miriya and adopted a scowl. “Go home.”

She walked up to him and gave him a crisp salute. Rick smiled and returned it, and when she brought her hand down he gave her a warm hug. “I will never be able to thank you enough, Miriya. Never.”

Miriya tightened her hold on Rick and said, “Never mention it again. What are friends for if not for times like these?” She released him and gave Max a kiss on his lips. “I will see you both later.” She kissed Max again and left.

When the door closed behind her Rick looked at Max and said, “That’s one special lady you’ve got there, Max.”

Max smiled and said, “Don’t I know it.” He looked at Rick and tried to gauge his feelings. “Ready, Boss?”

Rick took in and released a deep breath. He nodded and said confidently, “Let’s go, Captain.”

They walked through the corridors of the ship, ‘Lisa’s ship’, he thought proudly, in relative silence. ‘But it isn’t her ship anymore, is it?’ The people who met them murmured greetings and their sympathies to Rick, after they got over the shock of seeing him walking around.

Finally they arrived at the Sit. Room. The night watch was still on duty, but if Rick knew Vince Grant at all, he was in early getting brought up to speed. They opened the doors and walked in. Rick smiled and thought, ‘Big shock there’, for there was Vince talking to the senior night watch officer. The officer, Lieutenant Jen Earle, was the first to notice Rick and Max, and after she took a second to make sure of what she was seeing, she came to attention and announced, “Admiral on deck.”

The other two techs and Vince turned and came to attention. “As you were”, said Rick with a bit of a sigh. Vince, with a concerned expression on his face, approached Rick and Max. When he was close enough to speak softly, he asked, “Rick, are you sure about this?”

Rick smiled and said reassuringly, “I think so, Vince.” He jerked his thumb towards Max, “Besides, I have a chaperone if things get out of hand or if I start to lose it.” Max screwed up his nose at the comment and Vince grinned.

Rick walked slowly around the Sit. Room, nodded greetings to the night watch crew and ended up back where Max and Vince waited. He looked at the gentle giant and asked, “Anything I need to be aware of, Commander.”

Vince shook his head. “No, sir. All is quiet.”

“Has the package from Tirol arrived yet?”

Vince looked confused for a second, then said as he caught on, “Yes, sir. It’s on the secondary hangar deck. It arrived overnight…I didn’t want to bother you with it.”

“Excellent.” Rick turned to Max and said, “I have to go and get a couple of things in my office and then we’ll head to the hangar. It should only take a minute.”

As Rick walked to his office he heard Max say jovially, “Take your time, Boss.”

Rick opened his office door, moved inside and closed the door behind him. He walked to his desk, carefully avoiding the pictures of Lisa on the desk, and looked for the blue folder that Lisa had sent down from the bridge the day before the shuttle explosion. After rummaging around his cluttered desk for a minute, he found the object of his search. He opened it and signed the six pieces of paper that were inside, put four of them back in the blue folder and put the other two in a separate green folder. Satisfied with that, he took both folders in his hand and left his office. When he arrived next to Max and Vince, who were chatting until he got there, Rick handed Vince the green folder and said, “Could you take care of this for me, Vince?”

Vince opened up the folder, looked inside, smiled and closed the folder. “It will be my pleasure, sir.”

Rick patted Vince’s massive shoulder. “Thanks, Vince. If anything happens…”

“I’ll be sure to let Max know, sir.”

Rick laughed, along with Vince and Max, and started to walk out of the Sit. Room. He opened the doors and turned towards the hangar deck. The trip there was pretty much the same as it had been from his quarters to the Sit. Room. People nodded, and spoke short greetings, not wanting to intrude during the obviously painful time. Rick hesitated outside the hanger bay and took a deep breath.

Seeing Rick waver ever so slightly, Max asked, “Are you okay, Boss?”

Rick nodded, more eagerly than he meant to and said, “Let’s go.”

Max opened the door and Rick walked in. Max joined him just as the security officer on duty was about to announce his presence, but he stopped when Rick put his finger to his lips in the universal ‘be quiet’ gesture. The guard nodded and stepped back to his post.

It didn’t take long for his presence to garner attention, and once it started it went like a wave through the deck, with pilots running to their Alphas, and then standing by them as though they were about to undergo an inspection.

Rick walked around the hangar bay, nodding to each of the pilots as they stood by their Alphas, until he came to a raven haired pilot with hazel eyes that he had once thought were beautiful, but now regarded with caution, due in part to a warning from his deceased wife. “Commander Graham, congratulations on receiving your wings. I had no idea…” Rick stopped mid-sentence and took a small step towards her, reached over and turned her face to get a better look at her lip and asked, “What happened to your lip?”

“I slipped getting into my Alpha, sir, and hit the fuselage”, she said as sheepishly as she could fake. She could feel the hot rush of pink flood her cheeks when Rick touched her face. An all too brief moment later he removed his hand from her face, much to her dismay. She was really comfortable with it there, touching her face.

He saw her blush badly as he brought his hand down to his side, and he assumed that she was embarrassed by such a novice mistake. “I can’t remember you ever mentioning that you wanted to become a pilot.”

As she was about to answer, Graham glanced at Sterling only to see him narrow his eyes at her. “I just needed a new challenge, and it seemed like the way to go.” She looked into his eyes, noting that they weren’t their usual bright blue and said softly, “I’m sorry for the pain you’re going through right now, Rick…sir.”

“Thank you, Commander, I…” Rick totally lost his train of thought something sparkled on the fuselage of Graham’s Alpha. He looked beyond her right shoulder at the unusual marking on the fuselage that seemed to be the cause of the sparkle, then took a quick glance around at the Alphas he had just passed, and for the first time noticed that they all had the marking. ‘Why didn’t I see it on the other Alphas?’, he thought. He brushed past Graham and stepped closer to the Alpha and studied the decal. ‘A star, a heart and an ‘H’? What is this about?’ He placed his hand on it and asked aloud, “What is the meaning of this decal?”

Her eyes narrowed slightly against her will. Her heart had skipped a beat in anticipation when he moved towards her, but he was only trying to get a better look at the decal. She dug down deep and forced some reverence into her voice. “It was put there to honor Admiral Hunter, sir. The star represents her rank, the heart represents how much she was respected, and the H is for Hay…Hunter…sir.” She held her breath hoping he hadn’t noticed her gaffe. She watched him as he studied the decal, apparently oblivious to everything else...even her.

He didn’t notice, and as the meaning of the decal sunk in, he smiled.

Graham’s little blunder wasn’t unnoticed by Max though, nor did he miss when Graham narrowed her eyes in what he figured could only be anger.

“Who is responsible for this?”, asked Rick softly as he turned back to the decal.

“I am, sir”, came an unsure voice from off to the right. Rick turned and saw the chief standing there with his arms to his side and a worried look upon his face. Rick took a moment to size up the chief. He was an old warhorse who knew the inside of an Alpha better than the design teams did, and he had been with the SDF-1 as a member of the Prometheus flight crew. It was the chief back then that had found the terrible mess inside Skull One after Roy was hit. It was Max who had wanted him to come aboard the SDF-3 as the Flight Crew head, but it was Lisa who insisted on asking him.

Rick smiled and looked back to the decal. “It’s…perfect, chief. Absolutely perfect. She would appreciate it very much.” He turned to look at the chief. “As do I, chief. Thank you…from both of us.” Rick held out his hand and the chief stepped forward and took it.

As they shook the chief said with emotion filling his voice, “Thank you, sir…very much.” The chief released Rick’s hand and said, “If I may say so, sir, she was a wonderful person, and we’re all going to miss her. If there’s anything I can do for you, sir…”

“You’ve already done what I need, chief.” He looked at the chief and continued sincerely, “You made sure she’ll be remembered by the those who service these Alphas and the pilots who fly them. I can’t put into words how much that means to me.”

Max watched the chief and Rick as they talked, but kept one eye on Graham and noticed with interest how her eyes clouded over like the skies before a thunderstorm when Rick talked so lovingly about Lisa. ‘She looks very unhappy’, he thought.

Rick again placed his hand on the decal and Max could see that his friend was becoming overwhelmed with emotion. “Thank you chief”, said Max as he stepped in between Rick and Graham, who Max had noticed never moved very far away from Rick.

“Sir…”, began Graham, but Rick interrupted her as he said tiredly, “Dismissed, Commander.”

She hesitated for a moment, saluted, turned around and started to march off towards the exit, but stopped when Max called out to her.

“Commander”, said Max. He pointed to the clipboard on the deck next to her Alpha. He could see the clipboard contained an uncompleted pilot’s maintenance checklist. “Were you in the middle of a maintenance check?”

“Yes, sir”, she said tersely.

Max watched her pick up the clipboard and continue with the check, and then turned his attention to Rick. “Are you all right, Rick?

Rick nodded and said, “I am, Max. It’s beautiful, isn’t it? Almost as beautiful as she is.” He took deep breath and corrected himself. “As she was.”

“Time to head home, Boss”, said Max. He didn’t think it would work, but he wanted to give it a try.

Rick shook his head forcefully. “No, Max. I’ve got one more stop to make.”

“Are you sure about this, Rick?”

“I’m sure, Max. Let’s head to the bridge.”

They walked to the elevator to take them to deck one, and as the doors closed Rick slumped over and put his hand against the wall. Max put his right hand on Rick’s shoulder in support, not even bothering to ask if he was all right, or if he wanted to go home. Rick wasn’t all right, that much was obvious, and knowing Rick like he did, Max knew he would keep going until he finished what he started. As the elevator slowed for it’s approach to deck one, Rick straightened up, cleared his throat and nodded a thank you to Max, who removed his hand from Rick’s shoulder just as the door started to open.

They walked down the corridor, and when they came to the secondary entrance to Lisa’s office, Rick paused just for a second. A moment later, the door opened as Rick approached the bridge, and as he stepped onto the bridge someone said, “Admiral on deck!” Again, he sighed and said, “As you were.”

He looked at the command seat, surprised for a split second not to see Lisa sitting there smiling at him. He shook himself out of that thought and looked to Forsythe, who was standing near his old station and looking more than a little surprised. There was no one else at the station, and Rick realized that Forsythe was manning it himself. “Status report, Captain.”

Forsythe moved to stand in front of Rick and responded with military precision, giving Rick the details of ship’s operability and crew status. When Forsythe was finished, Rick lowered his voice and asked, “Who is manning your old station, Captain?”

A clouded look came over Forsythe’s eyes. “I am, sir.” He glanced to the command seat and said, “I haven’t been able to sit there. It doesn’t seem right.”

Rick put his right hand on Forsythe’s shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Captain, the SDF-3 is now your command”, he said with authority, “no one else’s. The people aboard this ship are your responsibility; the day to day operations of the ship are your responsibility; the bridge is yours, and that”, he said as he pointed to the command seat with his free hand, “is your chair.” Rick lowered his voice again and asked Forsythe, “What do you think she would say to you right now?”

Forsythe closed his eyes for a moment, picturing Lisa giving him a lecture about his command, and smiled. He looked at Rick and said, “Thank you, sir.”

“Anytime, Captain.” For the next few minutes Rick walked around the bridge with Max in tow, exchanging pleasantries with the command crew. When he was done, he walked back towards the command seat, where Forsythe was waiting. “Captain, could you take care of this for me?” He opened up the blue folder and handed him one of the pieces of paper inside. Forsythe read the paper and said happily, “No problem, sir.”

“Thank you, Captain.” He turned to leave but turned back to face Forsythe, “Oh, and please call Commander Grant and Captain Sterling and tell them to meet me on the secondary hangar deck in a few minutes.” He turned to Max and whispered, “Let’s go, Max.”

They walked to the door, and as it opened, Rick stopped and turned around just in time to watch Forsythe lower himself slowly, gingerly into the command seat. Rick and Max looked at each other and both men smiled.

They got on the elevator again, and Rick reached over and punched the button to take them back to the hangar deck.

“Rick, we’ve already been to the hangar.”

“I know, Max, but there’s something I want to show you.”

Moments later they were standing outside the door to the secondary hangar deck, waiting for Miriya and Vince to join them. They weren’t waiting long when Miriya and Vince approached Rick and Max. Rick said, “Good…follow me.”

Max, Miriya and Vince shot each other confused looks and followed Rick through the door. Vince knew what was in there, but he didn’t really know why he was summoned there.

Inside, they approached a sealed off area of the bay, with a standard door as it’s only visible means of access. When Rick reached it he entered his security code and went inside. His three friends followed, and once inside they looked with awe upon the prototype for the newest generation of REF Alphas: the Shadow fighter.

Max whistled, Vince beamed, and Miriya smiled. Like Vince, Miriya and Max had known the new prototype was being developed and constructed, they just weren’t aware of the timing of the project.

Rick glanced around the deck at the engineers and security personnel. “Clear the deck, please.” Those inside the secure area moved to obey as Max, Miriya and Vince examined the aircraft. When the deck was clear of all people except Rick and his friends, he summoned them over to stand by him.

“The arrival of the Shadow fighter is the beginning of a new program for the flying crews of the REF. The books will have to be rewritten and pilots will need new training to fly them. Lisa and I were going to initiate a series of programs to deal with those issues, and the first step in that program was to tap a couple of friends to head it.” He hesitated, and dug down deep to find the strength to continue. “Lisa’s loss has made that first step even more of a necessity.”

He took out one of the pieces of paper from the folder, turned to Max and said, “Max, my old friend, we want you to oversee the further development of the Shadow Fighter, including the test flight program and working out the few bugs they’ve already found. You will be in command of the program, answerable only to me. Do you accept that?”

Max was stunned. “What…well…” Miriya gently punched his shoulder and he stammered, “Of course, Rick…” He looked at the fighter like a kid looking at a Christmas present, then turned to regard Rick, who had a big smile on his face. “Of course, sir.”

Rick nodded his head and said, “Excellent. Thank you very much, Brigadier-General Sterling.” Rick watched for Max to react to what he had just said, and while it took longer than he thought for Max to catch on, his reaction was well worth waiting for. Max’s eyes opened wider than Rick had ever seen them, almost as round as his oversized glasses, and his mouth opened several times without saying a word. ‘He looks like he’s about to pass out’, thought Rick. ‘Maybe I should have got Jean to come down here too.’ Rick handed Max the paper and said, “Congratulations, Max.”

“Rick…”, began Max uncertainly. Rick knew what was on Max’s mind…the same thing that plagued his mind when he was first promoted. Rick however, had an ace up his sleeve, and he played it.

“That promotion was signed by Lisa, Max. It’s what she wanted. And I’ll make sure that there will always be an Alpha on standby for whenever you get the itch to go out. I promise.”

Max thought for moment. Rick saw the emotion come to his face when he mentioned Lisa. Max looked at Rick and said softly, “For Lisa.”

Seeing he would hear nothing further about it, Rick nodded and turned to face Miriya next. “Miriya, we want you to oversee and control the training program for the pilots who will fly the Shadow fighters. You will work closely with Max, which we assume won’t be a problem, and also be answerable to me. What do you say, Miriya?”

Miriya regarded the fighter for a second, and when she turned to face Rick there was a smile upon her beautiful face. “I accept, Admiral.”

Rick returned her smile, fished another piece of paper out of the folder and handed it to Miriya. “Thank you, Brigadier General Sterling. Congratulations.”

She took the paper and held it in unsteady hands as she read it. Rick turned to Vince and said, “Vince, you’ve been invaluable in the Sit. Room, my right hand even. We want you to work closely with Max and Miriya as a liaison between them and the fleet captains. We also want you to continue to work in the Sit. Room, especially now. Do you think you can manage that, Vince?”

Vince didn’t hesitate. “Absolutely, Rick.”

Rick handed Vince the last piece of paper in the folder and said, “Thank you, Captain Grant.” Rick took a moment to study the amazed and shocked looks on his friend’s faces. ‘They’ll be fine, Lisa’, he thought.

“You guys can linger if you want”, said Rick tiredly, “but I’m heading home. We’ll talk about the details later.” Keeping his emotions in check for so long had worn him out more than he thought it would. Several times he had come close to emotionally crashing, but Lisa’s encouragement rang in his ears, giving him the strength to go on. But he had reached his limit, and he knew it.

All three looked up at Rick, concerned at his exhausted tone of voice. They shook off their astonishment and Max said, “I’m with you, Boss.”

“I will go and pick up something from the Mess for our lunch and meet you in your quarters”, said Miriya, with a stern look at Rick, who saw and decided it wasn’t worth arguing about. Vince took one last look at the fighter and said, “I’m meeting Jean for lunch, then back to the Sit. Room.” He looked at Rick, gave him a salute and said, “Thank you, Admiral.”

Rick returned the salute, and as he brought his arm down, he said, “You’re more than welcome Vince, and you’ve earned it.” He looked at all of them and added, “You all have.”

With that, Admiral Rick Hunter turned around and headed home, with Max by his side all the way.

As they walked, Rick finished a thought that had budded in his mind during his first trip to the hangar deck that day. He narrowed his eyes and said, “Max, I’ve gotten into various aircraft hundreds and hundreds of times in my life, and I’ve never slipped on a ladder and into the fuselage before, not even as a kid.” He gave an inquisitive look to his friend and asked, “Have you?”

“Nope….never”, came Max’s response.

They kept walking and Rick shook his head. “I mean, I’ve seen people try to get into a Veritech while they were more drunk than sober, Roy for example, and I’ve almost never seen anything like that happen…you almost always fall straight down or backwards off the ladder. The once or twice I did see something like it there were no injuries.” He thought for a second, running through the many memories he had accumulated of Sue Graham while they worked together. “And Sue Graham is many things, but clumsy isn’t one of them.”

Max turned to look at Rick and saw that he doubted the story of Sue Graham in regards to her lip, just as he had doubted it. He turned and looked down the corridor and said, “Rick, did you notice anything else about her?”

Rick shook his head. “After I saw the decal, I kind of tuned out everything else, and talked to the chief. To be honest, after she told me what the decal represents, I forgot that she was there. Why?”

Max was silent for a moment. He wasn’t sure if he should continue a conversation in which Sue Graham was the subject, but…”She seemed really uncomfortable when she talked about the decal, and even more so when you talked about Lisa.” He cleared his throat and said, “And she almost said the ‘H’ was for Hayes, not Hunter.”

Rick looked down the hall as he processed what Max had just told him, and as he walked he heard in his mind, ‘Watch out for Sue…’

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Sue Graham sat in her office in Fleet Intelligence. She had finished the reports she had to go over and was sitting in her chair remembering the look, scent and feel of Rick Hunter. She had almost fainted when he reached out for her on the hangar deck and so lovingly held her face, and when he passed by her to look at the Alpha he was so close that she needed all of her considerable will power to keep from throwing her arms around him.

She was interrupted when her computer terminal beeped, indicating an incoming message. She activated the monitor, and as she read the message, a frown appeared on her face. ‘Generals! Give me a break!’ She didn’t have a problem with Grant’s promotion, but Max and Miriya Sterling…a different story.

Max Sterling had watched her like a hawk as she talked to Rick on the hangar deck, and there was no way that he had missed her missteps. But it wouldn’t matter.

Rick looked tired and worn out, but as she had told Angie, that was to be expected. But his eyes brightened when he touched her so gently…so lovingly, and his concern for her well-being was genuine. ‘He was worried about me’, she thought, ‘ and he cares about me, I have no doubt about it. His eyes and his voice don’t lie’

Angie was wrong. There was no question that Rick Hunter would love again, and there was no doubt in her mind that she would be the one who he fell in love with.

Maybe she wouldn’t need her contingency plan after all. If only she could make sure Angie didn’t buckle…

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Lisa had again worked on the one remaining restraint for hours, but had been unable to even get it to budge. ‘I guess one of them were tamper proof after all’, she thought tiredly, remembering Graham’s comment the shackles’ reliability.

She would keep trying though, but right now she had to rest. Her body had been acting strangely all morning. She was woken up by the warmest feeling, a feeeling of love and security, but a while later that feeling turned into a frigid sense of danger. It was almost as though someone she cared for was in the presence of danger. The feeling didn’t last long, thankfully, and she went back to feeling the warmth.

‘I’ve got to keep trying’, she thought as she once again picked up her makeshift tool and began picking at the lock. ‘I must keep trying so that I can get back to the ship…get back to Rick.’

‘I’ll come back to you, my love, and Sue Graham will pay for all she’s done, and she will pay dearly.’

State = Continuará/To Be Continue

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