fanfic_name = The Sit. Room Incident
chapter = 4
author = Dwparsnip
dedicate = Sphersian, who sked me a very good question.
Rating = AP15
Type = Romance
fanfic = For the next month, Dr. Lang and his team of Robotechnicians, scientists and engineers, pulled twenty-four hour a day shifts trying to make some headway into getting the ship battle ready. It was a painstaking and grueling time, but the need was urgent and human resilience and fortitude was something that the men and women of the Robotech Expeditionary Force had in spades. And in that month, the scientists and engineers proved it.
Admiral Lisa Hunter watched the Reflex Furnace power levels on the bridge monitoring station in nervous anticipation. It was the second of three tests on the furnace to determine its power emissions, stress tolerances and a whole checklist of other things. The first test went well only a couple of days earlier.
To her, the main thing was hitting the eighty percent power level, and then maintaining that level for at least twenty minutes without any variations in the stress levels. They had twenty seconds to go.
She could hear Lang on the communications channel issuing orders to the engineers, demanding reports and power levels. Finally she heard him say over the channel, 'Twenty minutes Admiral, and congratulations on a successful test.'
The bridge crew applauded around her. She heard Dr. Lang say, 'Prepare to disengage Reflex Furnace.'
"Belay that order, Doctor", she said. "Wait."
'Twenty-two minutes Admiral', she heard from him a couple of minutes later.
Lisa said into the intercom, "Increase power level to ninety percent, Doctor." Then she waited for his response.
Lang, sounding distressed said, 'Admiral, I strongly suggest we disengage the furnace.'
"Thank you Doctor. Please increase power to ninety percent."
'Yes Admiral.'
A few seconds later came the report. 'Power output levels at ninety percent Admiral.'
She sat in her command chair, hoping desperately that no one else on the bridge noticed that she had crossed her fingers.
'Five minutes at ninety percent power output', reported Lang. "All indicators are in the green zone."
"Wait", said Lisa quietly.
"Wait."
Ten minutes at ninety percent. Admiral.'
"Very well Dr. Lang, disengage the Reflex Furnace."
With that the furnace test was terminated, and Lisa wasn't sure if the sigh she heard was the sound of the ship's furnace powering down, or Lang finally breathing.
"Now Doctor", she said with a smile, "that was a successful test."
It was better than any of them had hoped for. "Finally, something is going right", she thought.
Into the intercom she spoke. "How long will your examination of the data take Doctor?"
'Give me a day Admiral. There is a tremendous amount of data to analyze.' He continued saying, 'If you would like an estimate for the third test, I feel comfortable in saying it could be as early as seven days from now, depending on the number and complexity of any modifications we have to make to the furnace. The fact that the furnace easily went to and maintained a ninety percent power output is a very positive sign.'
Lisa was amazed. Only thirty days ago Lang was telling her it would be months before the tests would be complete. "Dr. Lang, please express to the members of your team my heartfelt gratitude for their diligent and exemplary work. Their sacrifices will not be forgotten, I promise. If I have my way, they'll all get medals and pay raises. Bridge out."
Lisa sat back in her command chair and smiled. "Captain Forsythe, you have the bridge. I'll see you in the morning."
The ship's executive officer turned to her with a smile and said, "Yes ma'am. You have a good evening."
'Thanks Captain. Good night." She couldn't wait to tell Rick the good news, if he didn't know already. "He should be home by now."
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Admiral Rick Hunter was sitting on the couch in his quarters, waiting for his wife to come home for the day. He looked at the digital clock on the wall, which read 1630, and sighed. "Still half an hour", he thought. He leaned back on the couch and rubbed his eyes and then folded his hands together on his lap. He kept his head back and closed his eyes, resting. He had a long day. Not necessarily a hard day, as a matter of fact it was a rather uneventful day. It was just meeting after meeting after meeting about trivial and unimportant items, and the monotony had drained him more than if he'd spent the entire day in aerial combat.
When his last meeting was finished, he looked at Vince and told him to call Lt. Graham to see if there was anything earth shattering in the EoD. Vince said she had said no, so he cancelled the briefing so he could get out of there early. It was something he'd done occasionally. The end of day intelligence briefing was essentially a brief of all Fleet Intelligence matters. There were times when little happened on the various fronts that the division was responsible for, so it wasn't uncommon for a certain day's briefing to be similar or even identical to the previous day. Intelligence could be a slow moving business. He'd gotten into the habit with Powell of calling and asking him if there was an urgent need for the briefing, and if there wasn't he'd cancel. He'd maintained the practice with Graham, even cancelled more frequently. He didn't trust her in regards to what she may try with him on a personal level, but he knew she couldn't afford to jeopardize her career by trying to slip something past him in the EoD.
He sighed aloud, starting to drift off to sleep despite himself. Sue Graham. He remembered that day four weeks ago when she came into his office to do the EoD after Powell had transferred.
He thought back.
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He was sitting behind his desk, shuffling paperwork around in a vain attempt to make it go away without actually having to deal with it. He finally took out a large folder from his bottom desk drawer and laid it open on his desk. With a fanatical sweep of both his hands, he gathered up the documents, requisitions, strategic options, status reports, etc., and slammed it onto the open folder, which he then closed with a satisfying grunt.
He picked up the folder and gently tapped it on the desk so that the papers inside fell in neatly. He then looked at the folder in his hands, trying to decide on whether or not he would take the work home to his quarters or leave it until tomorrow. The decision making process however, was interrupted by a knock on his office door.
'Come in', he said. He heard the door open and without looking up he said, 'Anyone who can make me forget this paperwork is more than welcome!' he said laying the folder on his desk.
Rick looked up after he heard the door close and said in an astonished voice, 'Lieutenant?'
There stood Sue Graham with just a miniscule hint of a smile on her face, and while that was cause enough for alarm bells and red alerts to go off in Rick's mind, the only thing he could find himself thinking was,' Smooth Rick. Open mouth and insert foot.'
'Admiral', she said in way of a greeting and saluted. 'Sir, it is my duty to inform you that Lt. John Powell has requested and been granted a transfer to the cruiser Copernicus.' She sounded professional and in control. 'Major Woods has assigned me the honor and privilege of assuming the briefing duties of Lt. Powell, including sir, the end of day intelligence briefings.'
Rick was dumbfounded, astonished, shocked and a number of other things.
Here was Sue Graham, only a little over a week since kissing him in the Sit. Room telling him that she was again going to be working with him every day. Why her? What would happen?
Graham continued confidently, 'Lt. Powell's absence has left Fleet Intelligence a little short on man power, sir, and Major Woods has asked all members of the division to assume more duties if they are able. The major thought sir, that with our history of working together it would be best that I assume these duties.'
'Lt.. Graham, I'm not sure that I'm comfortable.' he started to say.
But she interrupted saying, 'Admiral, I have been given this assignment. Knowing my record sir, am I capable of carrying out the responsibilities and duties that the assignment entails?'
Rick nodded warily.
'Then sir, I don't see a problem.'
Rick was now in a tight spot. He had admitted that she was capable of doing the briefings, and it was the truth. If he now removed her from the briefings, questions would be asked and any reasons Rick would be able to give would be of a personal nature, not related directly to her job performance. It was a potentially messy situation.
The only thing he could do was accept her presence, and of course stay on guard.
He stood up and looked at Graham intensely. 'Very well Lieutenant. On the record, congratulations on your new duties and I look forward to working with you in these briefings.'
He now looked her straight in her hazel eyes, and in as an authoritative voice as he could find he said, 'Off the record, Lieutenant, watch your step. Do your job and that's it.'
She looked at him coolly and said, 'Yes sir."
'Proceed with you briefing Lieutenant', he said as he sat down.
She started the briefing, and Rick, with a terrible knot in the pit of his stomach thought to himself, 'Lisa is not going to like this.'
Half an hour after Graham began her briefing she was gone. Rick was just sitting there in his chair, hands behind his head, thinking about his wife and how she was gong to take the news of Sue Graham's new duties. Rick had no idea how to tell her, though he never doubted for a second that he had to tell her. "We'll be fine", he thought.
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Rick felt himself dozing off and opened his eyes. Lifting his head up, he looked at the clock again. It had only been ten minutes, though it seemed like an hour. It had been that type of day. He let his head fall back again, and shut his eyes.
He remembered how he was fearful of how Lisa would react. Not fearful in the sense that she would be angry with him or take it out on him or go on some sort of rampage, but in the sense of how it would effect her emotionally. She still had no time for Graham and her nightmare about him and Graham in the Sit. Room had hurt her deeply, very deeply. Not that she had said much about it after telling him about it that morning; indeed she hadn't mentioned it since. That in itself was an indication to Rick that it had really upset his wife.
It turned out that Lisa accepted it like a soldier. She knew about assignments, orders and staffing, but she didn't like it. She knew there was more to Graham getting assigned to the EoD briefings than she was letting on, but she couldn't find out what. Lisa didn't believe in that kind of coincidences, and she made him promise to be careful, which he did.
For her part though, Graham was the consummate professional. There was nothing to suggest that she had any feelings for him at all. She came in, did the briefings and left again. Other than the usual pleasantries and some occasional questions from him to her concerning something in the EoD, there was very little interaction between them.
He began dozing off again, but this time couldn't stop it. He thought about Lisa and was amazed at how just the thought of her comforted him. Her eyes, her lips, her hair, her scent, her kindness, her patience, it didn't matter. No matter what facet of her body or soul he thought of, it elicited the same feelings of belonging, comfort and love.
"I must be really tired", he thought, for he was sure he could feel Lisa's soft brown hair tickling his cheek. Then he thought he could smell her perfume, and it brought a smile to his face. His reverie continued when he thought he could feel her soft, tender lips gently touching his. He felt the electricity in his mouth, and it traveled from there all the way into the deepest valleys of his soul.
He opened his eyes, angry at himself for having to stop the wonderful feelings he was having to look at the clock.
The anger dissipated in a flash. That was how long it took for him to realize that he was looking into a set of beautiful green eyes. He blinked to make sure he was in fact awake, and when he looked again the eyes were joined by a brilliant smile. The rest of his senses kicked into overdrive. The scent of her was real and intense, and as if to confirm that he had felt her lips a few seconds ago, she reached down and kissed him.
Lisa was in front of him, leaning over him with her arms to the sides of his head on the back of the couch, holding her up so that she could hover above him. Her hair fluttered all around his head, touching his face in an elegant dance.
When she saw that he was awake she put her hands on his shoulders and she sat on his lap, placing her left knee on the couch next to his right hip and her right knee on the couch on the other side of him so that they were chest to chest, face to face. He brought his own right hand up to her face, almost afraid to touch it, still afraid he was dreaming and touching her would wake him. His fingers made contact with her soft skin, and he brought his other hand up to the other side of her face and gently pulled her down so that he could kiss her. When their lips touched, he again felt the electricity travel from his lips to his heart and all points in between.
After what seemed like a few seconds, but was actually a couple of minutes, he put his hand behind her hand and slowly turned the both of them. He laid her down carefully on the couch and gently lowered himself onto her, using his arms to hold himself up to hover over her as she had done only a couple of minutes earlier. He looked into her eyes and said in a quiet voice, "I love you Lisa."
She reached her hands up and placed them on the back of his neck, and as she brought him down to kiss him she said, "I love you too."
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Sue Graham was sitting a table in her quarters, fuming. Rick had cancelled the EoD again and it had angered her. On one level it angered her that when he cancelled a briefing that she had worked on, it took away from her duties and her responsibilities. She almost felt as though she wasn't doing her job. She brought it up to Woods, who shrugged it off, saying the briefings were sometimes redundant.
'A good many times Hunter cancelled on Powell, Lieutenant', Woods had said when she mentioned it to him. 'I don't blame him. The EoD can be a pain sometimes. Don't take it personally.'
On another level, she was angered in that she wasn't able to get as close to Rick as she wanted. A month had passed and in that time he had cancelled thirteen briefings, including today's. It was frustrating. She wanted to be near him, edge her way into his life, into his mind and into his heart.
She had been very careful not to give Rick, or anyone else who may be paying attention, like Max Sterling, any indication of her feelings for Rick. She had been professional to the letter.
She was waiting for the opportunity to present itself, and the scuttlebutt was the time was coming.
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Two hours later Rick looked at his beautiful wife as she slept beside him. He kissed her shoulder and she opened her eyes, looked at him and smiled, almost taking his breath away.
"I didn't mean to wake you", he said apologetically.
"Don't be sorry. Max and Miriya are coming over tonight, remember?" She kissed his nose.
"Then I guess we better get up", he said as he got out of their warm bed. As he pulled on a pair of blue denim jeans he asked, "How'd the test go?"
Lisa was getting dressed herself when he asked the question. She had been so intent on Rick since she saw him sleeping on the couch that she had forgotten about telling him about the test. "Better than expected!" she exclaimed as she put on a pink, tight fitting blouse. "We got to ninety percent and held it for ten minutes. Lang is hopeful the third test can go ahead next week." She pulled on a pair of jeans herself.
Rick, now fully clothed, and not really liking it, looked at his wife with surprise. "Ninety percent? That's fantastic Lisa. Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
Lisa just finished her own dressing and looked at Rick with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "I'm sorry Rick. But my husband distracted me and kept me otherwise engaged."
He moved to her and gave her a loving embrace. "He's a very lucky man, your husband."
She pulled back to look at him and said straight-faced, "Yes he is," and they laughed.
"Come on", she said. "Our guests will be arriving shortly."
As if on cue, someone knocked on their door. Lisa went into the kitchen to get some beverages ready and Rick opened the door to find Max and Miriya Sterling, arm in arm smiling at each other.
"Why good evening you two", said Rick happily.
Max adopted a concerned look. "Something is wrong Miriya. He has a smile on his face, he looks happy, and.oh my God. his shirt is on inside out!" He pointed at Rick and asked genially, "Who are you and what have you done with the real Rick Hunter?"
"Max you .my shirt's on inside out?" To his embarrassment, he discovered that it was. He excused himself and went into the bedroom to rectify the problem.
When Lisa brought out the drinks and laid them on the coffee table, she heard Rick ask as he came out, "Lisa, how come you didn't tell me my shirt was inside out?"
Puzzled she responded, "I didn't notice."
Miriya quipped, "And was that because you were distracted?"
Max looked at his wife and said as he winked, "Or got dressed in a hurry?"
Rick and Lisa looked at each other, and at Max and Miriya's laughter Rick said with false annoyance, "All right you two, that's enough." When they finally settled down he continued, "Have you two heard the news?"
Max nodded his head. "Ninety percent for ten." Then he turned to Lisa and said, "I was talking to a couple of engineers after the test. They said Lang almost had a stroke when you ordered the ninety percent."
Lisa smiled. "Well then, it's a good thing I didn't ask for ninety-five like I wanted to", and the friends laughed together.
Rick looked at Max and Miriya and said, "Lang says the third test could happen very soon. That means we'll have to issue the orders to get the divisions together."
Nodding, Max thought to ask Lisa, "What about the MED?"
The MED as everyone was calling it, stood for Medical Evacuation Drill, which was a drill to be held on a moon just outside the system to fine-tune evacuations of the injured in a combat situation like they were preparing to face. It was scheduled to take place in six days.
Lisa looked thoughtful for a second and responded, "Thanks for reminding me of that Max. I'll talk to Lang first thing in the morning about it. It would be great to have the ship at full power for the MED. It would be better for the crew to be using their own equipment and be in their own surroundings instead of having to use a secondary cruiser. I don't mind postponing the MED a few days to make it happen."
"Well that's great!" Max exclaimed happily. "The ship is finally coming together, the crew is ready to go and we're all deliriously in love. This calls for a toast." He held up his glass and said "Cheers!"
"Cheers" chorused Rick, Lisa and Miriya lifting their glasses as well.
The conversation stayed in the area of work for the rest of the night. An end was in sight. It was something to talk about.
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Lang was true to his word. Seven days after the successful second test, the final full power test was given. It too was completely successful, and the ship seemed to shudder with the collective celebrating of the crew.
Besides meaning the obvious, that the ship now had full power, it meant two other things as well. First it meant that the MED could now go ahead. After receiving Lang's assurance that the third Reflex Furnace test would take place a week after the successful second test, Lisa had moved the MED back to ensure the ship would be ready to take part in the drill. She wanted the medical transports and fighters taking off from and landing on her ship, the ship that would coordinate the attack on the Regis. She wanted her flight crews to be ready, the medical staff to be ready and they wouldn't have gotten the extra practice if another ship had coordinated the drill.
Second, it meant that the attack divisions could be put together. She had been disappointed weeks ago when Max had told her that the division commanders had decided to wait to assemble the divisions, although Max had assured her that Graham would be in the Jupiter Division. She had wanted Sue Graham as far from Rick as she could get her. It wasn't the case, and Graham had in fact gotten to remain close to Rick.
Lisa had said nothing, not even to Max or Miriya about Graham and the EoD briefings. When they asked about how she felt about the situation, her calculated response was that she trusted Rick. It was calculated in that while true, she did trust Rick, it was incomplete in that she didn't trust Graham.
And that scared her.
It was the early afternoon, and she was sitting at her desk in her office not long after the third test had finished, looking at Jean, Miriya and Max sitting across from her. They were just finishing a meeting concerning the timetable for the MED.
"That's it Admiral", Miriya said looking at the notes she had just written. "If we leave for the target moon by 0800 tomorrow, we'll be able to commence the drill at 0800 the following morning. Dr. Grant?"
Dr. Jean Grant said, "Looks good to me. The infirmary and medical staff will be ready. Max?"
Max was nodding his head. "The pilots, flight crews are all chomping at the bit to get going. They've been getting ready for over a month while the engineers have been getting the ship ready. Most of the preparatory work is done, just a couple of minor details to work out, and that shouldn't be a problem. Rick has informed me that the pre-drill ordnance has already situated on the moon by advance munitions experts, so the explosions and noise should make it look and sound real." Noticing Miriya's intense focus he said, "Miriya?"
"If we leave by 0800 tomorrow Admiral we should.Max!" She been so focused on her notes that she answered out of reflex and was about to give the same response she had a minute ago.
The four friends laughed, and Lisa said, "Very good. We leave for the moon by 0800 tomorrow morning. We'll take our time and make final preparations en route. That's it."
Jean, Miriya and Max got up to leave and were to her office door when Lisa asked, "Max, got a second?"
Max remained as his wife and Jean left. Lisa stood up and walked to the front her desk. She folded her hands in front of her and said, "Max."
When Lisa hesitated, Max moved to his friend, for he could see the emotion building up in her eyes. He gave Lisa a warm hug, which she returned. He knew what she wanted to know. Despite the brave appearance she had put up over the last month he knew she was hurting inside. He knew this because if it had been him in that situation, he'd be hurt, and scared.
He released her, taking her shoulders in his hands, and looking into her eyes he said softly, "It's taken care of Lisa. The assignments go out this afternoon. A few days after the MED she'll be off the ship, for good."
She looked at Max, thankful for his support and friendship. She hugged him this time, and said gratefully, "Thank you Max."
"You better have a damn good reason for holding my wife like that Sterling."
Neither of them had heard the door open, and they broke their hug to look at Rick, standing by the door. For a second they both thought that maybe Rick had overheard their conversation. It was a chilling thought because neither Max nor Lisa had told Rick of Lisa's request and Max's positive response concerning assigning Graham to the Jupiter Division.
It was clear that Rick hadn't heard the conversation, for he was still looking at them with a bemused look in his eyes.
"Well Rick, I thought Lisa.", he edged closer to the door, "well she seemed like.", closer and closer, "that is I think.", closer, "I have to go." And he was gone.
Rick smiled at Lisa, knowing there was nothing crazy or romantic going on. He just loved seeing Max act that way.
Seeing the look of enjoyment on Rick's face Lisa said, "That was cruel Rick. He was just being a friend."
"I know", he said laughing. "But the look on his face."
"You're impossible", said Lisa laughing now too as she went to him.
"Guilty as charged" was Rick's reply as he took his wife into his arms. He kissed her lips and felt weak kneed. When he looked at her again he just smiled, and couldn't stop.
They moved to sit on the couch that was in Lisa's office, and once they sat Rick asked, "The MED is on for day after tomorrow then?"
Lisa nodded saying, "I was going to call you and let you know after Max left. We'll leave tomorrow morning and do the drill the next morning. Is that a problem for your people?"
He shook his head. "No, it'll actually do them good to do something like this. They're ready."
"Not much longer Rick", she said. "It won't be much longer and they'll have plenty to do, in the space around Earth, in her skies and on the planet itself."
Rick nodded and put his arm around her, and as she rested her head on his shoulder he said, "They're ready, and so are we."
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Later in the afternoon, Graham was in her office in the former cargo bay that now housed Fleet Intelligence, preparing the next intelligence briefing, when a young ensign entered.
"Lt. Sue Graham?' she asked.
"Yes Ensign, I'm Lt. Graham."
"Ma'am, I have for you a letter concerning your next assignment", stated the ensign mechanically.
"My next assignment?" she asked.
"Yes, ma'am", came the reply and the ensign passed over to Graham a sealed envelope which bore on the front her name, rank and current position.
Her job done, the ensign saluted and left.
"My next assignment", she said to herself as she opened the letter.
She read it silently.
After she finished, she sat back and read aloud, ".your assignment to Jupiter Division is a result of your exemplary service, especially in the field of gathering and recording intelligence."
It was signed by Captain Lewis Drexler, commander REF personnel department, with the authorizing signature of Captain Maximillian Sterling.
She should have been furious, angry, and livid. She should go to Sterling and have it out with him. She should go to every officer she knew and complain. She should resign.
Instead, she smiled.
She wouldn't do any of those things because she not only knew of her assignment weeks ago, but also had figured out how to use it to her advantage.
State = Continuará/To Be Continue
feedback = Sí/Yes
email = dparsnipAThotmail.com