"Robotech - To The Stars: Aftermath - The First Year"
Chapter 17

February 16th, 2015

Kim tossed and turned. She had been looking forward to going up to the Factory Satellite and made no effort to hide the fact, but now, with the big blowout between Rick and Lisa, she felt very guilty for feeling any excitement for the upcoming trip. Her guilt, but most importantly, her respect for Lisa, made her decide to not tell Vanessa and Sammie about the incident. She could have easily called up her friends with the latest gossip story, but she remembered that Lisa had kept her word to not tell Vanessa and Sammie about the hotel hallway incident, and it was only fair and ethical that Kim return the favor. However, perhaps the underlying reason why Kim didn't wish to relate what she heard to anyone else was because it was such a hurtful comment, and knowing what Lisa had gone through for Rick, and how Kim herself had started on a path to a close friendship with Rick, the comment he made to Lisa not only hurt Lisa tremendously but it hurt Kim tremendously as well. Besides, she was too furious to even bare to utter Rick's name. He had gone way over the line this time. But, she reasoned, Rick would be Rick, and he was still only 24 years old after all, he still needed to mature some more. Although, Kim knew that if she had been on the receiving end of Rick's words, it would've been the very last straw as far as she was concerned.
Kim, as well as Sammie and Vanessa prided themselves on being pretty good judges of character, and though they talked about men non-stop, they were very picky about who they went out with and didn't just pick up any guy who did so much as to just wink at them. They actually had learned quite a lot from listening to 'Aunt Claudia's' advice and also from observing Lisa's troubles. The Trio would always talk about how sorry they felt for Lisa and wondered why she was so hung up on Rick. However, after spending more time getting to know Rick, Kim could understand Lisa's attraction to Rick, both physically and emotionally.
Kim wondered if she herself would ever find a steady boyfriend. The relationship with the former Zentraedi spies was difficult to say the least; they still needed to adjust to being Micronians, let alone learn how relationships were dealt with.
Once in awhile, she felt a longing to be married and have a family, but that didn't last very long, because she always remembered that she enjoyed her freedom, independence, and had a great time hanging out and causing mischief with Sammie and Vanessa. 'If it ain't broke don't fix it', she would say to herself, as well as, 'don't go looking for the fish, let the fish come to you.'
Kim fluffed up her pillow again, tried to clear her mind of the days events and then closed her eyes, and after awhile, finally fell asleep.

* * * * * * *

Lisa had left a message on Rick's voicemail, telling him where she was and that she was leaving. She waited and waited but he never returned her call. She figured he was still angry at her and she felt very heavy-hearted at the moment.
"We're ready now ma'am, please climb aboard," said the blond pilot.
"Thank you Lieutenant Kohl," answered Lisa as she stepped onto the first rung. She climbed up one more rung and then stopped, reminded of Rick and the many times she saw him climbing up into his plane.
"Ma'am, are you ok?" asked Kohl.
"Oh, I'm sorry, it's nothing," said Lisa as she climbed another rung.
"Ma'am! You're bleeding!" exclaimed Kohl in a bit of a panic.
Lisa looked down and it seemed that either some of her stitches had popped or the flightsuit had irritated her wound too much. "Damn. Don't worry about it Lieutenant, I'll be fine. I'll just wait till we get to the satellite."
"Are you sure Admiral?"
"Yes, Kohl," said Lisa as she finally settled into her seat.
Kohl hesitated for a few moments then climbed into the plane and turned back to her and asked one more time, "Ma'am, are you sure you'll be alright?"
Lisa gave a small smile and said, "Yes Lieutenant. I'll be fine, don't worry about me. Now...I believe the command tower wants us to roll out to runway 4."
Kohl listened for a moment and then heard the Flight Officer speaking over the radio channel. He quickly turned around and got things rolling.
As the VT was being lifted to it's launch position, Lisa looked out at the night sky. She also looked at the ground crew, and her heart hoped that her eyes would see Rick running towards her, but she didn't see him, because he didn't come.
Lisa felt the tears on her cheeks but could do nothing to stop them from falling.
Lieutenant Kohl looked in his mirror and saw that the Admiral had the most saddest look on her face and that she was crying. Kohl watched her for a moment, and couldn't describe the feelings that passed over him as he watched her. He got the feeling that it wasn't her injury that had upset her, and he noticed the forlorness in her eyes. He decided that for now he would just let her be, but if she didn't improve then he'd speak up.
Lieutenant Kohl was 25 years old and had been a pilot for about 3 years. He originally enlisted as a Navigations tech, but since the SDF-1 had been grounded and deemed unflightworthy after Dolza's attack, a fellow tech talked him into switching over to piloting.
Lieutenant Kohl had been planning to return to civilian life when he arrived back on Earth, he thought he might open up a restaurant in Macross City, but the reason why he wanted to get back to civilian life had left him. He was engaged to be married, but had found out that his financee had cheated on him. When they broke up she didn't particularly appear to be devastated nor remorseful, and from then on Kohl vowed it would be a long time before he even thought of marriage again.
After about a year of flying, he met and grew close to one of the female pilots in his squadron. They didn't date, but they were good friends. One day, on a routine patrol, the squadron was ambushed by Malcontents and the woman was shot down and killed. After that, Kohl decided he would remain a bachelor for the rest of his life.
Kohl, like several others who had served on the SDF-1, had been somewhat of a fan of the Superwomen bridge crew. He had even had a bit of a crush on Claudia Grant for awhile. He had been familiar with Lisa, though he had never met her in person, he had interacted with her a few times, and had been somewhat afraid of her. But then he, as did many others, notice the slow downward spiral of the woman who had been called 'Ice Queen' and 'Iron Maiden', as well as other names, and he actually found himself feeling very sorry for her. Now that she was here in his plane, looking very different from her old reputation, he was quite fascinated with her. He would be stationed to the Factory Satellite as a transport shuttle pilot for a stretch of 6 months, so why not try and make some new friends, including the Admiral.
Kohl's plane launched without incident and after he made sure everything was going without a hitch, he asked Lisa, "Admiral, how are you doing back there?"
"If there's anything you need ma'am, just let me know," said Kohl politely.
"Thank you Lieutenant," Lisa said quietly. "I've had a long day, so I think I'm going to take a little nap if you don't mind," finished Lisa, feeling physically and emotionally exhausted.
"Sure thing ma'am, you have a good rest now," said Kohl cheerfully.
"Thank you Lieutenant," Lisa said once again, then closed her eyes.

Lisa was awoken by jostling and the loud voice of Lieutenant Kohl. She had no idea how long she had been asleep but it must've been awhile because she was having a hard time waking up.
"I'm trying to get back to the carrier but there are too many of them right now, I can't shake them," Kohl was saying.
Lisa looked around and realized that they seemed to be engaged in some sort of skirmish. She looked at her co-pilot instruments and realized they were in the midst of at least a dozen pods, with more coming from the west.
"Lieutenant Kohl you get your butt back to a safe position as soon as you can!" shouted a male voice over the radio. "You've got a very very VIP person about your plane and if anything happens to her you are going to be in serious trouble!"
Lisa then heard one of the transport ships call for backup and Lisa could see that they were in big trouble and there was no air support around that particular ship at all. Lisa checked another monitor and saw that she and Kohl were the closest plane to the ship.
Lisa opened her radio channel and said clearly and decisively, "This is Admiral Hayes, I am giving Lieutenant Kohl a direct order to change coordinates and protect the transport ship that is missing air cover right now."
There was silence on the other end of the channel then finally, "Yes ma'am!"
"Lieutenant Kohl, I want you to get over to that ship ASAP. I'll help you out back here," said Lisa calmly.
"Help me out?..." said Kohl with hesitancy.
"Yes Lieutenant, I don't know how much you know about me but I do know how these VTs operate because I helped flight test these darn things," said Lisa.
"Oh! I'm sorry ma'am, I didn't mean to imply-" stuttered an embarrassed Kohl.
"I know, Lieutenant, now let's cut the chit chat and go and help out that ship," replied Lisa.
"Yes, ma'am!"
Kohl and Lisa made good progress for 15 minutes, and then were relieved from the fight when reinforcements came. They were leaving the area when one battlepod broke from fight and gave chase after them.
Throughout the earlier skirmish, before they were reinforced, Lisa made note that Kohl was no Rick Hunter, and seemed to lack a natural talent for flying. Kohl had done several things that made Lisa think that he only flew out of necessity and that he didn't have a real love or even a tremendous knowledge of flying. Now that they were being tailed by this one battlepod, she felt a bit apprehensive, and radioed to let the controllers know that they needed help.
Lisa was manning a the trigger of a secondary gun as Kohl was trying, though not too succesfully, to shake off the battlepod with evasive maneuvers. They had expended their missles as well as their main gun ammo and all they could do to keep from getting blown apart was to take evasive maneuvers and use the secondary weapons, which was also running out of ammo fast. It seemed that everytime Lisa was about to get a good shot off, Kohl maneuvered and caused her to miss. She was about to tell him to just stay still for a moment when all of a sudden Lisa saw two heat-seaking missles headed at them. Kohl was a bit slow with his reaction and one of the missles hit the plane some several feet behind where Lisa was sitting, then Kohl lost control of the plane. Thank goodness however, someone had made it to their position in time to take out the battlepod and then switch to Battloid mode and grab Kohl's plane before it collided with a large part of the battlepod wreckage.
"Jim!! It sure took you long enough to get out here and help us!" exclaimed Kohl with a slightly teasing tone.
"Dammit Kohl, of all the days to have an off day, you had to go and pick this one! Admiral Hayes, are you alright ma'am?" asked the pilot named Jim.
Lisa didn't reply and Kohl looked in his mirror but didn't see her because his attention was redirected to the damage to his plane, which he originally thought was minimal.
"Admiral Hayes!! Are you alright ma'am?!" shouted Jim.
Still no word from Lisa and Kohl began to feel himself panic.
"Kohl you idiot!! Get her to the Satellite immediately! I'll radio ahead and tell them to have a medical team standing by for her. You're in big trouble Kohl," said Jim warningly.
Kohl blasted to the Satellite as fast as his damaged VT could go and while he was flying through the giant door he heard Lisa begin to moan and in a groggy voice she asked, "What the hell happened?"
"Don't worry Admiral, we're going to get you checked out right away!" said Kohl, trying to discern how badly injured she was.
Lisa had woken up and found herself slumped against the consoles and felt a dull headache. She sat back against her seat and immediately cried out in pain.
"Admiral!!" exclaimed a frightened Kohl. "We're almost there, hang on Admiral!"
Lisa's back felt like she had just lay down on a bed of nails. She felt sharp pains in her back and gritted her teeth to keep from crying out again. "I go 6 years, through dozens of battles with the Zentraedi, survive Dolza's attack, without getting injured once and now, I'm injured twice in the span of 36 hours, this is ridiculous," Lisa grumbled.
Kohl realized that Lisa meant her comment to be humorous but he didn't laugh. He was too worried at the moment. He wasn't so much worried about getting in trouble with his superiors, he was more worried about how badly hurt Lisa was and how her opinion of him might be affected by his piloting errors, which were the cause of her being injured.
They got to the hanger and a medical team and maintenance crew rushed to the plane. The maintenance crew extinguished the fire that was still smoldering along the middle sectionof the plane and the medical crew gently helped Lisa out of the plane and placed her on her stomach on a gurney and whisked her away to the Micronian infirmary.
"Lieutenant Kohl!" shouted a man, one of Kohl's senior commanders, who was heading towards him nearly stomping.
Kohl wanted to stay with Lisa to make sure she was alright and apologize to her but he reluctantly followed his senior commander to his office to hear his punishment.
"Consider yourself lucky Kohl, that Admiral Hayes takes pity on you. You will not be reprimanded per her request. Make sure you don't make any more mistakes," said the commander in a huff.
Kohl had been ordered to oversee the beginning of the repairs of his plane. After about an hour, the technicians told him that they had an idea of what needed to be done, freeing up Kohl. The first thing he did was head towards the infirmary. Once there, he was turned away, citing the reason that he was neither family nor friend. After much annoyance of the nursing staff, Kohl managed to get one of them to go and ask Lisa if she would see him. The nurse came back and told Kohl that Lisa was resting. The nurse told Kohl to come back in three hours, so Kohl went to his quarters to unpack and then get something to eat.
After three hours of unpacking, eating breakfast, and resting up, Kohl made his way back to the infirmary and stopped at the small 24-hour gift shop to buy some flowers for Lisa. When he reached the nurses station, Kohl, flowers in hand, asked a nurse if he could see Lisa. The nurse gave him an annoyed look then told him to wait while she went to ask Lisa if she wanted to see him. After a few minutes the nurse came back and told him, "Room 4, and make sure you don't stay too long," she said crankily. Kohl thanked her then went down the hall.
He found Lisa's room and knocked lightly. "Come in," he heard Lisa say, and he slowly opened the door and walked into the room. Lisa was lying on her stomach, her bedsheets covering her from her waist to her feet, but her hospital gown was open in the back a bit, and Kohl could see some very nasty looking shrapnel wounds on her back, and he suddenly felt more guilty than he already did.
"Admiral...I don't know what to say, I'm so sorry," he stuttered.
"It's alright Lieutenant, please don't blame yourself," said Lisa, trying to not sound like she was in pain, which in fact she was.
Kohl looked around for a vase and found one in the corner of the room. He filled it up with water and then put the flowers in it and placed them on the stand next to Lisa's bed. "I brought these for you ma'am," said Kohl quietly, still transfixed with the wounds on Lisa's back.
"Thank you Kohl. Please sit down," said Lisa.
Kohl pulled up a chair and noticed that Lisa still had to bend her neck uncomfortably to look at him when either of them spoke, so Kohl pushed the chair away and sat on the floor so that he was more eye level with Lisa.
"Lieutenant, you don't have to sit on the floor," said a tired, but amused Lisa.
"It's fine ma'am. I'm fine here. Is there anything I can get you ma'am?" asked Kohl.
Lisa thought for a moment then said, "Yea get me out of here. I need to be on my feet before my aide gets here or else she'll have a heartattack and go ballistic on everyone. Oh yeah, speaking of which, you better make sure you hide from Commander Young when she gets here. Once she finds out that you were my pilot she's going to be looking to cook your goose. She's very protective of me." Lisa managed a little smile then waited to see how Kohl would reply.
"Thank you for the warning Admiral, I know what a fireball Commander Young can be, I'll make sure to stay out of her way until she cools off," said Kohl with a smile.
Despite her injuries, Lisa thought she might take advantage of Kohl's apparent familiarity with Kim's character and do a little matchmaking. "Oh, so you know Commander Young?" asked Lisa.
"Not really, but I know about her," answered Kohl.
"I see..." said Lisa. She thought to herself that Kim and Kohl might make a good couple and filed that in her memory for future use.
Kohl smiled again and said, "I'm not afraid of Commander Young so much as I'm afraid of Captain Hunter. If he knew I was responsible for you getting injured, I'm sure he would tan my hide. It's only natural a response for us guys."
Lisa's demeanor changed immediately and Rick's words from several hours prior came back ringing loudly in her ears. Lisa lifted her head and quickly turned it away from Kohl, saying a bit angrily but quietly, "I doubt if he gives a s--t."
Kohl remained silent for a moment. He thought back to Lisa's earlier unhappiness and concluded
that she and Rick must've had a fight before she left earth. Instead of trying to make excuses for Rick or saying something like, 'I'm sure that's not true', Kohl stood up and walked to the other side of Lisa's bed and knelt down and said quietly, "I'm sorry Admiral, I didn't mean to upset you by talking about Captain Hunter."
Lisa wiped a tear from her eye, embarrassed that Kohl had caught her crying, and cleared her throat and said calmly, "No need to apologize Lieutenant."
"Please call me Kirk, if you wish, ma'am," replied Kohl quietly.
Lisa nodded and Kohl looked at his watch and said, "Well, I better be going, before the nurses come and kick me out. Again, I'm very sorry, about everything." Lisa looked extremely pitiful it occured to Kohl and he could not help but feel the need and wish to comfort her in some way, so he took Lisa's hand and patted it and said, "If there's anything you need Admiral, just let me know. Since we'll be here for awhile, and there aren't too many Micronians around, I'd very much like it if you, Commander Young and I became friends. I think it makes remote assignments like this more fun if you have a good group of friends, and if Commander Young isn't too mad at me, perhaps you ladies would allow me to treat you to dinner some time."
Lisa gave Kohl a weak smile and said, "No matter how mad she gets, Kim never passes up a good dinner, you can bet on that."
Kohl chuckled then stood up and asked Lisa one more time if she needed anything, and after she reaffirmed that she didn't, Kohl bid her good night, or rather good morning, said that he would be back to visit her again, and then left the room.
After he left the room, Lisa had some time to herself to think. She definitely did see a possibility that Kim might take a liking to Kohl, and a nice friendly dinner was a good way to get to know each other better. She also wondered if Kohl had realized he'd been a bit forward by taking her hand, but she put it down to him being just one of those touchy-feely type of people.
Her thoughts turned back to Rick again and it hurt so much that she didn't want to continue thinking about him anymore, so she called the nurse and asked her for a sleeping pill and was granted two, which she took immediately, and soon afterwards fell fast asleep.

* * * * * * *

"Hey Rick, what the hell are you doing here? Get up you lazy bum!" said Roy as he pulled Rick up by the collar.
Rick, in a daze, rubbed his eyes and then looked around. He was sitting in the same spot where he had passed out only now, Roy was sitting next to him.
"Roy?" Rick said in disbelief.
Roy held out his arms and exclaimed, "The one and only!"
Rick was going to start with a slew of questions but Roy waved him off saying, "I can't stay very long. Now what's this business about you not excepting your promotion?"
"I'm a pilot Roy, nothing else. I don't want to be anything else. I would think you'd understand that," said Rick.
Roy scratched his head and said, "Yeah well Rick...sometimes...you have a tendancy to not see the big picture."
"What do you mean Roy?" asked Rick defensively. Then he asked in a determined voice, "Wouldn't you refuse promotion too?"
Roy held out his hands to calm Rick down, "Whoa there little brother. Now, we both know that flying is our life, and that we've done a good job of protecting people but right now, the RDF is going through a time when it's in dire need of good, honest officers to run things, not people like Maistroff."
Rick rolled his eyes, "Please Roy, don't start. I heard all of this from Lisa."
"And of course, you made every effort to tell her that you don't believe her right?" said Roy, hitting below the belt a little bit.
Roy saw the small trace of guilt on Rick's face and continued on, "OK, so if you don't believe Lisa, then believe me. I am telling you, that I think it is for everyone's best interest, including your own, that you accept your promotion."
"But I don't want all this responsibility Roy," said Rick, with a hint of a whine.
"Listen Rick, when you first got promoted to squadron leader, didn't you also say the same thing?"
"Yea," answered Rick.
"But you got quickly used to it right?" countered Roy.
"Yea but this is different Roy, we are talking about hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of people that I would be in charge of. I don't want to let anyone down, or worse. I don't want a mistake of mine to end up endangering the lives of that many people," said Rick.
"Rick," said Roy with some exasperation. "You have yet to have made a major mistake. Listen to me, you would be the most respected senior officer if you took this job. Do you understand just how important the partnership between you and the rest of the RDF would be because of that? Morale would be boosted tremendously and things would get done better and more quickly. Maistroff and Leonard are just looking out for themselves and in the process they'll ruin the RDF. Doesn't that mean anything to you Rick? Can't you see how frustrated everyone is because of Maistroff?? Look at what he's done to Vanessa, and Sammie, and Lisa even. You need to get in there so you can help Reinhardt, Haller, and Lisa counter Maistroff and his cronies. The RDF is in shambles, and it's being rebuilt by Maistroff, and that is definitely not a good thing. It needs to be rebuilt by people like you and Lisa."
Roy took a drink of Rick's whisky in order to let his speech sink into Rick's mind.
Rick thought it through. It was pretty much the same Lisa had tried to tell him. Rick decided to ask another question. "Roy, if Claudia asked you to give up flying, would you?"
"Rick, I don't think Lisa's asking you to give up flying for her," answered Roy.
Rick persisted, "I know that Roy, but let's just say, if Claudia asked you to give up flying, would you?"
Roy shrugged, "Well, that would depend on the situation. If she asked me to stop flying because she was afraid for my safety, then I would have to sit down and think about it very carefully. If it really bothered her so much that she was at the point of leaving me, then I think I would. If you ask me what I love more, flying or Claudia, then there's no doubt, Claudia. If you ask Max, if he would give up flying for Miriya and Dana, then I don't think he'd even hesistate. But see your case is different. Lisa is not asking you to give up flying for her, she's asking you to give it up for everyone else and for yourself."
"For myself?" puzzled Rick.
"Yeah, because she believes that you are capable of so much more. She believes that you have not yet even begun to realize your potential. Don't you see Rick, she's not doing it for herself, she's doing it for everyone else but herself."
Rick remained quiet but Roy could see that he had gotten Rick thinking. Roy waited awhile to let Rick dwell on things some more, then continued.
"You need to realize Rick, things cannot stay the same forever. I mean, sure, you're comfortable with the way things are and then when something comes along to change that, of course it might be a bit frightening because you've got that 'fear of the unknown' part of it to worry about. And of course no one can predict what will happen, but if people are to grow and if society is to progres, you need to take on that journey and conquer the fear of the unknown and find out what comes of things so that that 'unknown' will know longer be unknown, and it could turn out to be something harmful or it could turn out to be something that helps society, but no one will ever know unless they take the initiative to find out about what they don't know."
Again, Rick remained quiet. Roy took another drink and then slapped Rick on the back and said, "Listen, I gotta go now, you think about what I said alright?"
Rick nodded and turned to look at Roy but Roy had already vanished.

* * * * * * *

"Well, I guess I'm all set to go," said Kim, trying to sound cheerful.
Sammie was already sniffling and Vanessa kept clearing her throat, a sign that she was trying to keep down the lump in her throat, one of Vanessa's quirks that Kim knew well.
Kim gave Vanessa a hug and said, "Now, don't you worry about me, you take care of yourself ok? And don't get too cozy with any of the sailors unless you intend to bring back one for me and Sammie too."
Vanessa nodded and couldn't hold onto a sniffle. Kim started sniffling too and slapped Vanessa on the shoulder and said, "Stop that, you're making me cry too!"
The Trio laughed and went into a group hug.
Claudia had just given her brother Vince a hug and now Jean had latched onto him and was in tears. Vince turned to his son and said, "Bowie, you make sure you take good care of your mother while I'm gone." Bowie saluted and tugged on Jean's skirt, which caused her to detach from Vince and hold Bowie's hand. Vince tweaked Jean's nose and said, "Now my little lady, no more tears, I'll be back soon enough." Jean nodded and Claudia gave her a reassuring pat on the back.
Kim and Vince were the last two people to be sent up to the Factory; everyone else and all the supplies and equipment had finished completing the uploading just two hours prior.
Vanessa looked around and then said, "Lisa better hurry up or she'll miss her flight."
Kim was nervous, and she started berating herself for not checking on Lisa in person. She was about to call Lisa when Reinhardt came into view. After several more moments he was in their presence.
"Well, I hope everyone's ready. We will launch in 10 minutes," said Reinhardt.
Kim held up her finger, "Uh, wait, we are still waiting for Lisa, er...Admiral Hayes."
"Oh, she didn't tell you? She went up in a VT early this morning. She's there right now. The squadron she went up with ran into a bit of trouble on the way there, and she was injured but she should be fine," finished Reinhardt.
"What?!! How come you didn't call me!?? Uh...sir! General, sir! Uh...sorry...sir," stumbled Kim, realizing that she had yelled at Reinhardt.
Reinhardt held up his hand, "No need to apologize Commander. Admiral Hayes is very fortunate to have such a protective aide. She sent me a message telling me she was fine and expected to be back on her feet by the time you got there. Please try not worry too much."
Kim gave him a look that made Reinhardt think that she didn't totally believed him and he had to chuckle a bit.
The shuttle officer called for everyone to start boarding so the Trio and the Grants all said their goodbyes and Kim and Vince boarded the shuttle with the others waving and shouting their 'Bon Voyage's, and then in 10 minutes, exactly on schedule, the shuttle blasted off and headed towards the Factory Satellite.

* * * * * * *

"I thought I would let you know first, because I don't want to get him in trouble," said an aircraft mechanic that was walking briskly down the hall as Max and Miriya trying to keep with him.
The Sterlings and the mechanic finally made it to the hanger and saw that Rick was slowly waking up, a Whiskey bottle by his side. Max hurried over to Rick to help him sit up and Miriya pulled the mechanic off to the side and said sternly, nearly poking the man's eye out with her finger, "Make sure you don't tell anyone about this...please."
The mechanic, knew of Miriya Parino Sterling and knew that it was wise not to make her angry and so he shook his head adamantly and told her, "Of course not ma'am. Captain Hunter is a friend and I don't want him to get in trouble, that's why I came and got you and Captain Sterling to help."
Miriya nodded knowingly then gave the mechanic a smile and said, "Good man."
Miriya went to Max's side and Max looked up at the mechanic and said, "That's ok, I think we can take care of him now."
The mechanic nodded but hesitated a bit, "Yes sir, uh...Captain sir, I'm suppose to start work on the engine, we have a deadline to have the plane ready by tommorrow..."
Max nodded, "Give us a few minutes to let him get back on his feet and then we'll leave so you guys can finish up with your work."
The mechanic saluted and said he'd be back in 15 minutes.
"Oh boy, I never thought I'd see him like this. I had been expecting it for the past 4 years with all his trouble with Minmei...come on Rick, wake up," said Max as he lightly slapped Rick to try and wake him up.
"Shall I try Max?" asked Miriya, holding out a hand, ready to take a slap at Rick.
"Ahhh, no Mir, that's ok, he'll come around soon enough," said Max, knowing that Miriya, although she had good intentions, would end up slapping Rick too hard and giving him a bruise.
Rick finally sat up and rubbed his eyes and then ran his hands through his hair, "Oh hell, what a headache I have," he moaned.
"I'm sure you do," chuckled Max as he looked at the half empty bottle.
"Where's Roy?" asked Rick.
"Roy?" puzzled Max.
"Yeah, he was here, talking to me about the promotion," said Rick, looking around.
Max pushed up his glasses and said, "I...uh...think you probably had too much to drink and were hallucinating Rick."
Rick closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, "You're absolutely right Max. Damn. What time is it?"
"It is 9am," said Miriya.
"9am?!!" exclaimed Rick. He tried to get up on his feet but his headache stopped him and he leaned against the VT with one hand bracing against it for support and the other hand holding his pounding head. "I have to see Lisa," said Rick with a trace of fear in his voice.
"Too late Rick, she's gone," said Max flatly.
Rick felt a chill run down his spine and the look on his face reflected that. He quickly pulled out his cellphone and was going to punch up Lisa's number when he saw he had a missed call and a voicemail message. He pushed the button and Lisa's name came up as the missed call, then he quickly hit the buttonand listened to the voicemail message, his heart pounding and his hand was shaking as he held the phone.
'Rick, it's 15 minutes til midnight. I'm over here at hanger 7, I'm going up early...there's some things I wanted to work on... I know you're probably still very angry at me, but please Rick, it would mean so much to me if you just came by before I leave. We don't need to discuss anything, I just need to see you. I'll...be here for another 15 minutes...if I don't see you before I leave then, well, please think things over, and please watch after Sammie, Vanessa, Claudia, and Jean and Bowie. Goodbye.'
Lisa's voice had started out steady but when she asked Rick to come and see her it sounded almost like desperate pleading. Then she seemed at a loss as to what else to say and ended in a bit of a rush, as if she were trying to not break down on the phone.
Rick replayed the message again, and one more time after that. Each time he played the message his anger at himself grew. She had asked him to come see her, but he hadn't. He couldn't begin to imagine how she felt when he didn't show up.
Despite his hangover, Rick turned to Miriya and Max and told them that he would be alright and he thanked them for coming over. After some hesitation and protest, the Sterlings left and Rick checked in with command, and since he didn't have his plane ready, he couldn't go on patrol, so headed back to his apartment. After finding something to eat, taking a shower, then taking an aspirin for his headache, Rick sat down on the couch and stared off into space.
He wondered if his conversation with Roy was a ghost, a dream, or a hallucination. A knock at the door interrupted Rick's thoughts and he rushed up to answer the door.
"Hi Rick, uhh...Lisa asked me to give you this. She said all you have to do is sign it and give it to Reinhardt," said Sammie a bit warily. She handed the envelope to Rick then said goodbye and left before he could ask her any questions.
Rick opened up the envelope and unfolded the single piece of paper inside. It was 'Nullification of Promotion' form. Lisa's signature was already on there, and all Rick needed to do to get his promotion voided was to sign it and turn it in.
Rick thought about it some more and he was actually suppose to be happy about this, but he wasn't. In fact, he felt worse. Lisa was giving him the opportunity to quit; she wasn't forcing him to take the promotion if he didn't want it. So why did Rick not feel happy about this?
Rick knew, or at least he thought, that he would not be happy being an Admiral and he wanted to stay a pilot. He also knew that by turning down this promotion, he was letting down a lot of people, including the most important ones in his life, but he just didn't believe he could handle the burden and didn't want to take the chance that he might fail.
He replayed Roy's words and Lisa's words in his head and knew that they had valid arguments but Rick just didn't want to take the risk. But what if it meant losing Lisa? No, Lisa wouldn't leave him, he knew that, and she gave every indication that she wouldn't by the tone of her voicemail message.
Again, Rick started feeling increasingly guilty. Lisa would stick by him no matter what, even if he let her down, even if he were mean to her. He just couldn't understand why she would be so devoted to him, especially since she was a highly sought-after woman. There were probably many men out there that were way better for her than one Rick Hunter, but she didn't want any of them. Rick knew he didn't deserve Lisa, and he knew that he had hurt her yet again. So what was he going to do about it? And what was he going to do about the promotion? Rick Hunter closed his eyes and laid his head back on the couch. Everything was just too overwhelming for him at the moment. He tried to clear his mind by thinking of the things that brought him happiness so he let himself daydream about a lazy day at the beach with Lisa.

* * * * * * *

Vanessa and Sammie heard a knock on Vanessa's office door. "Come in," said Vanessa.
The door opened and in walked Lieutenant Antell carrying a folder in her hand. "This is for you Captain Leeds," said Antell blandly. She put, or rather, slightly tossed the folder down on Vanessa's desk, and walked out of the office.
Sammie let out a growl and Vanessa made a shushing motion with her hand in order to stop Sammie's outburst, since she thought that Antell might be listening outside the door. Vanessa got up and headed towards the door and sure enough, Antell jumped and tried to pretend she was fixing her papers.
"Is there anything else?" asked Vanessa stoically.
"No, nothing else," said Antell as she walked out the door.
Vanessa walked back into her office after making sure that Antell was well down the hallway. "Can you believe her, and she didn't even salute either, b----h troll from hell!"
Sammie growled again then waited for Vanessa to sit down and asked excitedly, "Open it! Let's see what's in it."
Vanessa adjusted her glasses then opened the folder and read, her expression turning into one of shock.
"What??!! What is it?" exclaimed Sammie.
Vanessa didn't answer, instead she put the folder in front of Sammie so she could read it herself. After a few seconds let out a yell of frustration and then said, "Damn that stupid a--hole!! You're not finished with your training yet, you can't possibly go on sub duty tommorrow!!"
Sammie picked up her stuff and started stomping out of the room but Vanessa managed to catch her in time by blocking the door.
"Come on, just let it go. There's no way he's going to change his mind, especially if we demand that he do so, and I'm not going to beg either," stated Vanessa.
"V, come on, we have to do something, you can not go out there," protested Sammie.
Vanessa pushed Sammie back to her chair and said, "Listen Sammie. I actually do think I'm ready to go on duty now, and look at it this way, the sooner I start, the sooner I can get back."
"Yeah but Kim just left and now you're leaving too, I'll be all alone," whined Sammie.
"Sam, you're not going to be alone, you have Rick and the Sterlings and Claudia and Jean-" started Vanessa.
"Yes I know but you know, it's not like you or Kim," muttered Sammie.
Vanessa gave Sammie a pat on the back and said, "I know I know. But I'd rather just hurry up and get it over with than wait around."
Vanessa needed to think of something to cheer both herself and Sammie up. Even though she did indeed want to hurry up and get the mission over with, Vanessa was anxious about whether she was prepared enough. She had made brilliant progress in her training but there were still some systems she wasn't familiar with. The orders made mention of that and told her that she need not worry about those deficiencies since she would be nowhere nearly directly involved with those systems, yet as a matter of personal work ethic, she would prefer that she was 100% prepared, but her orders were given and she had to accept them and undertake the mission as best as possible.
"Hey Sam, what do you say after we get off work we go to the mall in East Monument," said Vanessa.
"You mean that brand new one?!" said Sammie excitedly.
Vanessa smiled, she had managed to bring Sammie around, "Yes, that new one, my treat. We'll have a shopping spree!"
"Yippee!" exclaimed Sammie. "I'll need it because I forgot, today is the day Antell gets promoted to Commander, so I really need something to cheer me up!"
Vanessa wrinkled her face, "That's right. How terrible, now she'll be Commander and even more of a pain in the butt than ever."
Sammie nodded, "I've never seen someone so narcissistic in all my life! Like today, she was lecturing Pam about proper seating etiquette."
"Get out of here," said Vanessa in amazement.
"I'm not kidding," continued Sammie, "She says that slouching not only shows laziness but also lack of respect. I'm like, how does slouching disrespect anyone?! Poor Pam had been on duty for 10 hours, I don't blame her for slouching, those chairs are uncomfortable! But noooooooo. Antell has to come and nag Pam, and then after she's done nagging her she says she's going to lunch and doens't come back for two hours. Stupid woman!! Tommorrow Pam and I are going to follow her and see where she goes."
Vanessa rolled her eyes, "Sammie, you know Antell will get really ticked off if she catches you."
Sammie waved Vanessa off, "Nah, don't worry. We'll be careful. Anyways, let's not waste our time on her right now. I have to go to a meeting with that idiot. I'll meet up with you back at the apartment and we'll grab dinner at the mall."
Vanessa waved as Sammie left the office. Antell was surely a pain in the butt and good for comic relief, but just exactly what was up with that woman. She seemed to enjoy making everyone's life miserable but for what purpose? Solely to do Maistroff's bidding? If she did indeed enjoy antagonizing everyone then there was definitely something wrong with her. She seemed like a junior Maistroff, but in a more unexplainable way. Vanessa was glad that Antell wasn't her aide or else she'd have lost patience with her long ago.
As Vanessa thought about it some more, she realized that no one seemed to know anything about Antell. Supposedly she had come from New Tampa. She was bright, if not abrasive. Other than knowing that she was a huge fan of Minmei's and Kyle's, she never spoke about anything in her private life or past and always dodged the questions whenever anyone asked.
Vanessa sighed and decided that Antell was the least of her worries at the moment. She needed to get herself mentally prepared for her new assignment and from being separated from all her friends, which wasn't going to be easy. Vanessa took off her glasses and put her head down on her desk and mumbled, "No wonder why Lisa needed a drink every now and then."
Vanessa lifted her head up and said, "No." She shook her head and said outloud, "No, I'm not going to go that route, I've got a different one..." She stood up, made sure she had nothing to attend to for the next half hour, and then locked her office and headed to the chapel for some private moments of quiet reflection.

* * * * * * *

Kim burst into Lisa's room and exclaimed, "Are you alright??! Damn, that stupid pilot, doesn't he know he has a VIP onboard, he should have stayed out of the fight! Where is he, I want to give him a piece of my mind!"
Lisa motioned for Kim to sit down and Kim obeyed by plopping into the chair and letting out a growl.
Kim looked at Lisa's back and let out a small cry, "Lisa! Oh my god! Look at your back! That f----n' pilot! I'll-"
"Kim, come on, it wasn't his fault. He did what he could. It could've been a lot worse," said Lisa, trying to calm Kim down.
"He surely isn't Ri-" Kim stopped herself but it was too late.
Lisa didn't comment about Rick, instead she said, "Can you try and talk them into discharging me? I can't stay in a hospital bed, I have a lot of work to do."
"You're in no condition to work Lisa," said Kim scoldingly.
"It's really not as bad as it looks. Just prop me up at my desk and I'll be fine," countered Lisa.
"I'd tell you that's out of the question, but I know how damn stubborn you are," said Kim, rolling her eyes.
Lisa saw her chance, "Help me up, I need to start getting back on my feet." When she saw Kim's expression, Lisa quickly added, "We can take things slowly, just a walk down the hall a few times."
Kim threw her hands up in the air, "Oh, ALRIGHT! You're impossible you know?"
Kim got up from her chair and Lisa pushed herself up with her arms as Kim surveyed the scene and tried to figure the best way to move Lisa without too much discomfort. When Lisa had slipped into her slippers and got her balance as she stood, Kim had Lisa take hold of her arm and they headed out the door. They passed the nurses station and at least two nurses started to protest, but Lisa waved them off and Kim said, "The Admiral wants to take a walk and there's nothing you can do to stop her."
Lisa managed a small chuckle and she and Kim continued down the hall.
"Hey, you're doing pretty good, how are you feelin'?" asked Kim.
Lisa did a self-assessment then said, "I'm feeling pretty good, nothing wrong with my legs. Just if I stretch my back at all then it hurts. You know, it's like if you have a dozen paper cuts on your back."
"S--t!" said Kim, then she added, "I gotta hand it to you Lis, you're really one tough cookie. I don't think I could be nearly half as tough as you."
"Bull," said Lisa. "I saw you with that ankle injury, you're as tough as anyone. Sammie too."
"I guess so," shrugged Kim.
They continued down the hall and then turned around to make the return trip and Kim suddenly stopped, "Lisa. I'm worried about Vanessa."
"Why?" asked Lisa.
"Because, I just don't like the idea that she'll be down underwater without any one of her friends with her."
Lisa tried to put Kim at ease by saying, "She's very highly trained and so are the people who will be onboard with her, and, always remember, if she's ever in trouble, Sammie, Claudia, and...Rick, will do all they can to help her and they've never let us down once yet."
Kim shook her head, "Yea, you're right. Ok then, enough worrying. Now, lets try and figure out how to talk them into discharging you."
Lisa smiled and they continued down the hall.

* * * * * * *

Rick had thought long and hard about what he had decided to do, and he knew that he was making the selfish and cowardly decision, but he saw no other decision to make.
Rick waited for five minutes then was ushered into Reinhardt's office.
"Good Afternoon Admiral Hunter, what can I do for you?" asked Reinhardt in a friendly tone.
Rick hesitated for a moment; being called 'Admiral Hunter' seemed very foreign to him. "General Reinhardt sir-" started Rick.
Reinhardt held up his hand and said, "No need for 'sir' now Admiral Hunter."
Rick started again, "General Reinhardt, sir, I know that I've been promoted but I would prefer to retain my Captain status for the moment."
Reinhardt looked at Rick for a moment. He had been prepared for this because he knew Rick pretty well. He also knew that it was extremely important that Rick accept his new responsibility if the RDF had any chance of staying intact. Rick was so important for the reason that he was very respected and had the capabilities to be a good large-scale leader, although Rick himself didn't believe it. Reinhardt knew that Lisa was needed for anything that had to do with the SDF-3 and other ships that might be built and when there was a fleet, it was assumed that she would be Fleet Admiral. She could have very well been the Commander in Chief but she was so knowledgeable in the fields of ships and their combat tactics that it would be suicide to send out a fleet and not have Lisa be in charge of them. As for Rick, the reason why he made for a better Commander in Chief than Lisa was the fact that the regular soldier felt comfortable around him and respected him for the fact that he had always ready to take up their case even if it meant a reprimand for himself. Lisa was respected too but did not put as many people at ease as Rick did. Reinhardt himself was a likeable guy but his strength was in Logistics and he was vitally needed in that department.
"You know that's not possible Admiral," said Reinhardt.
Rick paused for a few seconds then slowly reached into his pocket and took out an envelope. He looked at it for awhile, then opened the flap and took out the letter, looked at it again, then unfolded it and held it out to Reinhardt.
Reinhardt took it and looked it over and then looked up at Rick with disappointment written all over his face. "Is there anything I can say that will make you change your mind?" Reinhardt asked.
Rick looked down at the floor and shook his head.
"Captain Hunter, Rick. Rick please just hear me out. We need you on our team. It's so important for the RDF to be filled with good, respected people like yourself, not people like Maistroff. Please Rick, please take some time to reconsider, not for my sake, but for the future of the RDF. And if not for their sake, then at least do it for Lisa's."
Rick gave Reinhardt a startled look and Reinhardt saw he had gotten Rick's fixed attention.
"She believes in you Rick, even though you might not believe in yourself, she believes in you. When she came to me the first time to discuss your promotion and why she thought you would make a good Admiral, I was just marveled by the way she spoke about you with such conviction. Of course I always thought you should be promoted to Admiral too, but when she spoke to me it about it, she left absolutely no doubt in my mind about you and your abilities."
Rick looked away from Reinhardt and said quietly, "I'm sorry General, I guess you and she both held too high an opinion of me."
Reinhardt stood up and said, "Perhaps we did."
Rick shuddered a bit, he hadn't expected Reinhardt to reply. Rick saluted then turned around to head out towards the door but Reinhardt stopped his departure from the room, "Oh, Rick, by the way. I just thought that you might want to know that Lisa received some slight wounds from a skirmish on the way up to the Factory Satellite. She didn't want me to tell you, but I thought, well...I just thought you'd want to know."
Rick turned around immediately, eyes wide with alarm, "She got injured again? How? What happened? How about her injury from last night?"
Reinhardt shrugged, "I don't know what happened, she wouldn't tell me, all she said that she was injured but that she was fine."
Rick stuck his hands in his pocket and looked down at the floor again and asked, "You don't suppose that I'd be able to...to speak to her?"
"I'm sorry Captain Hunter, but they are observing communication silence for now," answered Reinhardt.
"Please General, I need to speak to her," pleaded Rick.
"Rick, I'm very sorry, but that's not possible right now," replied Reinhardt sympathetically.
Rick looked at Reinhardt with a determined look and asked, "When you re-establish communications with her, could you please let me know? It's very important I speak to her."
Reinhardt nodded and Rick thanked him, saluted, and went out the door.
Reinhardt tugged at his beard and then shook his head as he looked at Rick's nullification form, then he folded the paper back up and put it in his top desk drawer; he wasn't going to turn it in just yet and he hoped that with a little more time, Rick would reconsider and accept his promotion.

As Rick walked down the hall he was stopped by a group of Destroid crewmen who congratulated him on his promotion. Rick took note of the obvious disappointment on their faces when he told them, "Uh... actually, I'm still a Captain. I refused the promotion."
The Destroid crewmembers looked at each other with confused looks then looked back at Rick, one of them saying, "Oh... well if you ever become an Admiral one day, just know that we all support you and would be proud to serve under you sir." They saluted Rick then went on their way. Rick watched them walked down the hall then slumped his shoulders and entered an elevator.
In the elevator were a couple of pilots from the pilots from the Indigo Squadron, one of them ribbed Rick and said, "Hey Rick! Congrats on the promotion!! Now maybe things can change for the better, you can really give Maistroff hell now! Not that we don't think Hayes can, but you know she ain't gonna be around on earth much what with her working on the SDF-3 and all. Speaking of Hayes, ooooweee! Did she look hot at the Valentine's Day party!"
One of the other pilots whistled his agreement and the elevator arrived at Rick's floor and he got walked out without saying a word.
"What did I say??" asked the pilot who had spoken to Rick.
Another pilot shrugged and said, "Maybe he's having girl troubles again."
The other pilot chuckled, "Well, I sure know if I had Minmei as a girlfriend, then the Admiral, I surely wouldn't be moping around!"
The pilots laughed and the elevator door closed.

It was time for Rick to head home, so he checked out and decided to walk home in order to get some fresh air. The evening was very chilly and Rick buttoned up his coat as he walked down the street. Walking about the street he saw a small little lookout area that must've been just put in, because he hadn't recalled seeing it before. He walked over to it and sat on the bench and took in the view of the city below.
This little lookout area reminded him of the ones in Macross City. He started reflecting on the early Macross days. Would he go back to those days? Did he wish he could and if he did, what would he change?
As he looked around some more he was also reminded that the place sort of looked like where Rick and Lisa were standing when Rick chewed her out for not calling him in for duty when Khyron attacked during Christmas. Lisa looked so lonely as she walked away from him that night, and knowing what she did that night after Rick had confronted her angrily, made him feel all the more guilty. Not only that, but he had done it again, just this very day, he had let her go without saying goodbye, he had let her go because he had let his selfishness, ego, and anger get in the way, again.
"How could I say that to her?!" said Rick angrily. "And how could I let her leave thinking that I didn't care, dammit!"
Rick felt like he needed a drink but decided against it; he had missed Lisa's call because he had passed out, and he vowed wasn't going to miss anything ever again, so he got up and started heading towards Lisa's hotel. He needed to be where Lisa was but he couldn't, so the next best thing was being where she had spent the most time in the past few days.
As Rick rounded a corner, he almost stumbled over a person lying on the concrete. Rick bent down to see if he could find any signs of life, and when the man on the floor made a shivering noise, Rick knew breathed a little sigh of relief. He noticed that the man wore tattered clothes and didn't smell very pleasant. A cold breeze tossed Rick's hair and he was reminded of just how chilly the night would become. Seeing that the vagrant on the street didn't seem to have anything else but the clothes on his back, Rick checked his own jacket's pockets and made sure he didn't leave anything in them before taking it off and placing it over the man on the floor. Rick then pulled out his wallet and took out a 20 dollar bill and tucked it into the vagrant's front pocket, hoping that the man would make good use of the donation. Rick stood up, looked at the man again, then hurried on his way through the chilly night air to the hotel.

* * * * * * *

Dana had run off for the tenth time and Claudia had run after her, with Bowie giving chase after Claudia. Jean laughed at the scene and Miriya leaned in closer and whispered, "When is her son coming?"
Jean kept her eyes on Claudia and the kids but replied, "I'm not sure yet, I don't think Claudia's sure herself. These sort of things take some time."
Miriya nodded her head and Jean wondered if Miriya really understood the situation or not.
"It's very complicated to be sure, but I think it is the right decision. Claudia needs someone special in her life," said Miriya confidently.
Jean's eyes twinkled. It looks as if she had underestimated Miriya, again. It was a strange situation, sometimes, it seemed that Miriya would have absolutely no inkling of one particular aspect of Micronian culture, yet be in total understanding of another. Each time Miriya picked up on something, it was amusing to watch her glow with pride and try and make several applications of her newly acquired understanding of a concept. One time, Vince had uttered the expression, 'When donkeys fly!' and Miriya looked at him as if he were crazy and told him that it was impossible for donkeys to fly. After a lengthy explanation from Vince, Miriya said she understood and then went around for a couple weeks answering 'When donkeys fly!' to everything that she would have normally said 'Impossible!' to.
Claudia came back with Bowie and Dana in tow and sat down on the bench with a tired sigh. "Ok, next time it's your turn Jean," said Claudia with a grin.
Jean shrugged and said, "Very well."
Claudia picked up her cup of coffee and Miriya commented, "That coffee is adequate, but I do think that the way I make Cappachin is superior."
Claudia hid her smile behind her cup and asked Miriya, "So what's going on with that Quadrano that Lisa found?
"Well, we managed to get her a spot as a forklift driver in the main cargo bay of the Factory Satellite. I had given her several choices of spots she could fill and she chose that one," answered Miriya.
"Had you ever met her before?" asked Jean.
"No, but I think I had seen her name once or twice in some reports, Elsa is her name, very uncommon for a Zentraedi," said Miriya.
"I'm sure she'll be ok there up at the Factory Satellite," replied Claudia.
Miriya shook her head sadly and Jean and Claudia gave each other a look, Jean asking, "What's wrong Miriya?"
Miriya sighed, something that Jean and Claudia didn't see her do very often, if ever, and said somewhat angrily, "She has no friends. The ones that she did have, I took away from her."
Instinctively, both Jean and Claudia each put a comforting hand on Miriya's shoulders.
"Miriya, you had no choice, they wouldn't surrender. There was nothing you could do," said Claudia quietly.
"I know that. But...things shouldn't be like this. Why are they like this?" asked Miriya dejectedly.
Jean started to respond but Miriya cut her off by snapping, "I'll tell you why! Because of people like Maistroff! And you know who else....Hialeah! She hasn't done anything but take care of herself! Elsa told me that some of the Quadranos had gone to Hialeah but she refused to see them! Something has to be done about those two!"
Claudia looked around and put a restraining arm on Miriya and tried to get her to calm down, "Miriya, shhhh, come on, don't talk like that. Listen honey, you need to be patient."
"There is no time to be patient, not when Zentraedi are dying!" blurted out Miriya.
"Miriya, listen, we have already scheduled a meeting to discuss this very issue. Let's just try and hold out until then and see what comes of it," said Claudia, trying to sound confident.
Miriya managed to calm down a little bit an sipped her coffee. "I'm sorry. It's just...this upsets me so much and I feel so powerless to stop it."
"We understand honey, and we're here to help with whatever we can, but we have to first come up with a plan on how to deal with these situations. In Macross it wasn't so bad, but here in Monument it seems that they really have no concern whatsoever, and that definitely has to change, and it will, but as much as we hate to do it, we have to wait because we are still trying to stabilize the RDF right now," said Claudia.
Miriya nodded her head reluctantly, picked up Dana in her arms and hugged her tightly and said, "I hope so, if not for my sake, then for Dana's sake. I do...I do have more hope now...because now Rick is an Admiral too, and I know he'll do whatever he can to help. I'm not saying that Lisa wouldn't help, just that she's needed elsewhere and can't deal with this issue, but Rick can. I know he can. And I know he won't let me down."

* * * * * * *

Rick shuffled into the foyer and switched on the light. He looked and listened and everything was dark and silent. He imagined hearing Kim's teasing voice and seeing Lisa standing in the kitchen, but both were just a figment of his imagination; the rooms were empty and both women were many miles away.
Rick took off his shoes and his jacket and started a small fire going in the fireplace. He sat down on the couch and waited and watched the fire and sighed. He didn't remember feeling so alone like this, except maybe the immediate weeks after Roy had died, but even then, Lisa had been there for him, checking on him every now and then to make sure he was doing ok. Now, Lisa wasn't there and the realization made Rick feel desolate. He needed to know that she still loved him, despite all that he had said and done, because if she left him for good this time, Rick didn't think he could take it.
Rick took out his phone and called up Reinhardt. "General, I'm very sorry to bother you sir, but...I was wondering...is there anything you can do to get me in touch with Admiral Hayes?"
Reinhardt told him that there wasn't anything he could do and Rick then asked, "Then sir, is it possible for me to go up to the Factory Satellite? I really need to speak to her."
Reinhardt again gave Rick his profuse apologies and could only offer to notify Rick immediately whenever communication was established. Knowing Rick pretty well, and the reason why Rick was so adamant about wanting to see Lisa, Reinhardt made Rick promise that he wouldn't do anything without permission. Rick reluctantly gave his word and then the call ended, leaving Rick with nothing but the sound of the crackling fire to listen to. The silence started getting to him after a few minutes and Rick got up off the couch and headed to Lisa's bedroom.
He looked around and tried to imagine her sleeping but the reality that she wasn't there only made him feel worse, so instead he turned on a lamp and looked around the room, trying to find something to distract himself.
He looked at Lisa's desk, then in the drawers and didn't find anything that caught his attention. He wondered what had happened to that box of letters and photoalbums that he had come across a few weeks ago. He looked around the room again, then went over to the closet and opened it and found the box on the floor, still taped up the way he had left it when he first moved it over to the hotel for Lisa.
Rick knew he shouldn't but he couldn't ignore the nagging feeling to open up the box and explore it's contents again. The first time was out of pure curiosity, this time he thought it was more justified because he had an urgent need to feel connected to Lisa and this box was something that could help him.
He pulled the box out of the closet and then went to the dresser and looked through his drawer, the one Lisa had set aside for him to store some clothes since they both agreed to the assumption that Rick would spend alot of his time there at Lisa's place and he had likewise set aside some closet space in his apartment for her clothes as well. After gathering up the clothes he needed, Rick headed to the shower and after he was finished, fixed himself some coffee and went back to Lisa's room and started going through the box.
The contents of the box were all jumbled together and Rick decided to take it upon himself to reorganize everything. He remembered seeing some plastic storage containers in Kim's room so he went to retrieve those. After coming back to the room he carefully removed everything from the box, separating like-items.
He had one pile for letters, another pile for photoalbums, a pile for awards and medals, and another pile for miscellaneous things. The last item left in the box was a manila folder that Rick placed in the misc pile then broke the box up into smaller pieces so it could be thrown out since it was starting to fall apart anyways. Rick wasn't normally very tidy, but he knew that Lisa was and thought she might appreciate the gesture of his organizing things for her while she were away.
Rick looked at his piles and wasn't sure where to begin. He looked around the room and saw a small shelf but that was somewhat full. He noticed a small space on the wall that would be perfect for a few shelves and he stood up to take a visual measurment of the spot. He decided that tommorrow after duty, he would see if he could find a hardware store and buy what he needed to build a small shelf to place some of Lisa's things upon. He had not asked Lisa why she never talked about all the decorations and awards she received and after learning just how many she had, he was very curious to know the story behind each of them all. Rick also was very proud of Lisa and thought that he would pay a little tribute to her and her father by arranging their awards and medals properly. He remembered back to a time when he had built a shelf in his room and had displayed some of the trophies that Roy had won and how proud of Roy he felt everytime he looked at them.

Rick had spent quite some time sorting all the medals, citations, and awards. Between the two of them, Lisa and her father had an enormous amount and Rick realized that all these things is what had made the box so darn heavy. He finally was convinced that he had everything sorted out properly and with Lisa's things on one side and her father's on the other, Rick was at a loss as to what to do with the things that belonged to Lisa's father. At first he thought it would be nice to display them but as he sorted, he remembered that Lisa had yet to come to any sort of peace as to where she stood with her father. The times during Reconstruction when Rick and Lisa would spend talking were mostly focused on Rick and his problems. Only on a few occassions did they speak about Lisa's problems, let alone the problems she had with her father. On the few rare occassions that they did speak about the late Admiral Hayes, Lisa would seem angry and guilt-ridden at the same time, then she would change the subject. Rick had never pressed the issue, not wanting to seem nosey, but now he wish he had. Claudia had told him once that she believed Lisa had a lot of unresolved personal issues, including issues concerning her father. Rick knew how much of a help it was to have Lisa to talk to when Roy had died, and now Rick hoped that he could be supportive of Lisa and help her resolve the open wounds she still harbored. Rick decided to store away Admiral Hayes' things for the moment, and then leave it up to Lisa to decide what to do with his belongings, after she and Rick had a good talk about her father.
Rick next turned his attention to the stacks of letters and put them in a storage container for the moment. He had already resigned himself to the fact that he would be nosey and read some more of them, but none of the ones that were still unopened. That was something Lisa needed to do.
Rick was organizing the stack of photoalbums when one fell off the pile and onto the miscelleneous pile. In the process of picking it up and placing it back on the pile, Rick accidently picked up the manila folder. He pulled it out of the photoalbum pile and was going to return it to the miscelleneous pile when he noticed that on the other side of it there were stamps of red ink that said, "Confidential" and "Private" and "High Security Clearance Authorized Personnel Only." Rick looked at it for awhile and then decided he wouldn't look at its contents but then a photograph paperclipped to a report fell out and onto the floor. Rick could not immediately discern what the picture was and took a closer look, when he still could not understand what the purpose of the picture was, he looked at the report.

Sammie and Vanessa had finished their shopping spree and Sammie was complaining of sore feet so Vanessa dropped Sammie off at home and then headed to Lisa's and Kim's hotel. She had promised Kim she would water her ferns for her while she was away, and since Vanessa was going to be away herself starting tommorrow, she knew it would make her feel better and less detached from everything if she went to water the ferns tonight. At least she could say that she had watered Kim's fern like Kim had asked, even if it was once. Now the job would fall on Sammie, who had a particular disliking for ferns, and Vanessa hoped that in her absence, the ferns would not be neglected by Sammie or else Kim would skin them both; Vanessa chuckled at the thought.
After letting herself into the room she noticed that the fireplace was lit and was about to panic, thinking that an intruder was in the place or that Kim had accidently left the fireplace burning and there might be a fire, but she saw Rick's uniform jacket on the couch and breathed a sigh of relief. She looked towards the direction of Lisa's room and sure enough, the light was on.
So as not to startle Rick, she decided to holler out to him before entering the room. Rick didn't reply so Vanessa walked inside the room and found Rick sitting on the floor, with a folder of what looked like reports, in his hand and a very scared, almost haunted look on his face.
Vanessa headed towards him, "Rick, what's wrong?"
Rick quickly closed up the folder and Vanessa managed to catch a glimpse of the words "Confidential" on it before Rick hurriedly stuck it in Lisa's desk drawer.
Rick shook his head and said, "Nothing," unconvincingly.
Vanessa looked at him suspiciously but didn't say anything and Rick paced a few steps before asking her, "Is there something wrong? Is it about Lisa? Kim?"
Vanessa said, "No. I just stopped by to water Kim's ferns. I promised I would and since I'm leaving tommorrow and Sammie is horrible at taking care of plants, especially ferns, I at least want to be able to tell Kim they were watered, even if it were just once."
Rick seemed lost in thought as he ran his hand through his dark hair but a few moments later his head jerked up and he asked, "Leaving tommorrow?!"
Vanessa nodded sadly, "Yes, I got my orders to ship out tommorrow. Seems they moved things up, but actually it's ok with me. I want to hurry up and get this over with as soon as possible so I can come back home."
Rick tried, but he only partially heard what Vanessa had said, he was too preoccupied with all the things he had read in the reports in the manila folder. Finally, after several seconds of not saying anything he shook his head and said, "I'm sorry." Then he took Vanessa by the wrist and said distractedly, "Come on, let's sit down and have some coffee."
Vanessa was taken by surprised and was still very troubled about whatever it was that was troubling Rick and decided to ask him about it.
Rick placed two steaming mugs of coffee on the table and Vanessa went ahead and asked, "Rick, something is bothering you, is there anything I can do to help?"
Rick looked up at her and wrestled over whether to tell her or not. He knew that she hadn't been too eager to go on the submarine assignment and suspected that she was more afraid than she let on. Rick had learned some things about himself over the past few weeks and one of those things was that he had a bad habit of being self-centered and oblivious to other people's troubles. The information he read in the reports had affected him deeply but he could see by the troubled look on Vanessa's face, that she was in need of some support herself and that he owed it to her as well as to himself to try and be a friend to someone instead of being a friend of someone. He needed to get into the habit of listening to others when they were in need of a friend, instead of having them listen to him, so he decided to start now.
"I'll tell you about it later, but first...first let's talk about you," said Rick. His own words surprised him. He wasn't used to talking about others first before himself and all that had transpired that day and previous night had been a direct contrast to his new insight on how he should behave towards people. Perhaps it was guilt, and that his wanting to listen to Vanessa was actually a need to convince himself that he was not selfish and could think about others before himself. It was a tough realization and again, Lisa had beared the brunt of his failures to realize his selfish behavior. If he couldn't listen to Lisa right now, then he could listen to Vanessa.
Vanessa was shocked as well; since when did Rick Hunter talk about other people first? She knew it was pretty mean to tihnk it, but it was true. She didn't want old grudges to get in the way of new friendship, and she really felt a need to talk to someone at the moment.
"I guess you must be pretty nervous about the assignment, I think everyone would be," mused Rick.
Vanessa sipped her coffee and shook her head, "Yes, but you know, it's not so much that I'm afraid of getting hurt, it's more that I'm afraid of making a mistake and other people getting hurt."
Rick looked her in the eyes and said, "I know exactly what you mean."
"I mean, to have me go through a crash-course like this, isn't the proper way to train people, especially for sub duty, because on sub duty you don't get any reinforcements. And they have me as 3rd in command. How on earth can they put me in as third in command. I don't have any sub experience, I don't even know how most of the ship runs, and I don't like the water. And, if I were a crewman on board the sub, I would be resentful of myself. Here comes someone who's just had a crash course in sub ops and is put in as third in command. I can just hear them now, 'How on earth can she possibly know what she's doing?' 'There are other, more qualified people who deserve to be third in command.' I'm just so scared that I'm going to make a mistake and it's going to endanger people or worse. I'm afraid that because of my incompetance, I might let a lot of people down and I'll humiliate myself and look like some dummy who shouldn't be there in the first place. I don't want to fail and I don't want to let people down, it's so scary Rick!" Vanessa started crying and Rick quickly went over to her side of the table and pulled her out of her chair and hugged her.
Vanessa was embarrassed by her outburst and stammered an apology, "I'm sorry...I must look like such a wimp right now..."
Rick shooshed her and said quietly, "You're not a wimp. You have every right to be scared. I know exactly what you are going through and I feel exactly the same way you do about my own situation."
Vanessa pulled away from him a bit, "You mean about your promotion?"
Rick nodded his head. Vanessa pulled back some more, she had become aware that it was a good feeling to be in Rick's arms, she felt comforted, but she also remembered that they were friends and she did not think it right to linger in his arms more than was necessary. She resisted the urge to giggle, imagining Sammie and Kim scolding her and yelling at her for a missed opportunity to snuggle up to 'Lisa's hunk', as they called him, one of the many new nicknames they had given Rick over the past few weeks.
The Trio had secretly started a competition as to who could get the best shot at Rick. Kim was already one up on Sammie and Vanessa with the bath towel incident, and Sammie had determined to outdue them all somehow. She had thrown out the idea that she was going to pinch Rick's butt, but Kim and Vanessa highly doubted that Sammie would actually do that. As most people knew, and most importantly, as Lisa knew, the Trio held themselves to very high moral standards and in no way shape or form would they ever compete for or steal a guy, especially if he were involved with one of them or their friends. Kim told Sammie and Vanessa that she had talked to Lisa about it, to make it clear to Lisa that they had no bad intentions and Lisa was perfectly fine with the idea of the Trio teasing Rick and even touching him and hugging him if they wanted to. She knew that they would not interfere with the relationship for selfish reasons. The Trio was harmless, more importantly, they were like sisters to Lisa and she saw no harm and felt no threat in letting them have a little mischief at Rick's expense.
Vanessa refocused herself and sat down and waited for Rick to elaborate.
"I feel exactly the same way you do. I don't want to let people down, and even more so, I don't want to end up being responsible for the lives of so many people. What if I make a mistake in judgement and people end up getting killed? What if people think I'm not qualified for my job, what if even I don't think I'm qualified for the job? It's not only overwhelming, but it's very scary as well," finished Rick.
"But Rick, I, and many others, believe you can make a difference," stated Vanessa. "You are qualified, and you are needed, especially now.
Vanessa saw that Rick was trying to think of a counter statement so she beat him to it by saying, "I mean, it's not like you're in the exact same situation as me? Look at me? I've never been trained on submarine systems before. They might as well be throwing me on that ship with my eyes blindfolded, I'm practically useless."
Rick shook his head and firmly said, "No. I don't want to ever hear you say that about yourself. You are bright and responsible and have good judgement and you can get the job done, I know you can."
Vanessa had him where she wanted him and held her head up and looked Rick directly in the eyes and said, "I know you can too Rick."
Despite everything that was troubling at the moment, Rick managed to let out a short laugh and say, "You did that on purpose didn't you?"
Vanessa smiled and shrugged.
Rick asked, "Tell me, do you really believe all the stuff you said about yourself?"
Vanessa grew serious and asked, "I don't know, do you believe all the stuff you said about yourself?"
Rick looked away from her and stared at the fire for a few moments then shook his head slowly, "I don't know Vanessa. I really don't know."
The two sat in silence for awhile then Vanessa asked, "Ok, so now we've talked about me, will you tell me what you were so upset about when I first got here."
Rick sighed and put his elbows up on the table and his head in his hands. Without moving from that pose he asked, "How long have you known Lisa?"
"Quite a long time, we were classmates at the Academy, but back then we really didn't know each other too well, we hung out with different people. It was only until we were assigned to the SDF-1 did we become friends," answered Vanessa, trying to figure out what Rick was leading up to.
"What was she like?" asked Rick.
Vanessa thought for a moment. She wondered how to answer his question and finally settled on, "Well, like I said, we didn't really know each other during the Academy years, but the very first time was about 6 months after we started, it was in our Calculus II class that I first met her. She had the highest scores on the entry tests, so everyone was always talking about her so I had heard her name before but since the Academy was pretty big place, I'd not seen her before in any other previous classes. Some of the jealous people had already had a preconceived notion of what she would be like, especially given the fact that she was the Admiral's daughter, I think it was motivation for those jealous of her, to go out of their way to try and put her down."
"They teased her?" asked Rick, feeling angry.
"Well, not to her face. No one dare do that for fear her father would find out and they'd get expelled. But they sure did do alot behind her back, and Lisa knew it. Well, since I had heard all this stuff about Lisa, I had already had it in my mind that I would stay away from her and so I didn't talk to her during class. One day, I was called to the board to work on a problem, and it was a real stumper. The teacher made me even more nervous by telling me 'the class is waiting Cadet Leeds' and 'we don't have all day Cadet Leeds' and I think Lisa could tell I was really starting to get really really nervous from the pressure so she raised her hand and volunteered to help me out. I was kinda mad when I heard her volunteer because I thought that she had just done it on purpose to make me look stupid, since we all knew she probably knew how to solve every problem that was thrown out there. She came up to the board and started to look at the problem then someone came to the door to speak to the teacher briefly. With the teacher preoccupied, Lisa told me how to solve the problem, but she didn't do any of the work on the board. Then the teacher came back and asked Lisa if she had solved it yet and she said that she didn't know how and so the teacher chided her for being a busybody. She didn't reply to that, instead she told the teacher that if he gave me just a little bit more time, I could probably figure it out. Then she sat back down and I did the solution she had told me and it was the correct one.
After class, I was in the hallway with my friend and Lisa passed by and I stopped her and I asked her why she did what she did, and she told me that she knew if it appeared that she couldn't answer it, then the teacher wouldn't bother me so much about it. Because we both knew that the teacher knew that Lisa could solve anything and if Lisa couldn't solve it, he didn't think anyone else could. Then my friend asked her if that was her plan all along or if we both just got lucky because the teacher got called away. Lisa told us that it was her intention to go up and attempt the problem and pretend she didn't know how to solve it, then the teacher would let everyone off the hook.
I asked her why she did that, even knowing that she would probably get reprimanded by the teacher, and she said, 'Don't believe everything you hear about me, I really am a nice person if you just take the time to get to know me.'
She walked away before I could say anything. I felt sooooooooo bad and ashamed. I resolved that I was going to make friends with her the next day in class, but she was absent for a week, and then when she came back she was sent up to Calculus III. And I was so caught up with myself at the time and always listening to my friends that I didn't bother to try and find her after she left."
Vanessa could see that Rick had been listening intently and he asked her, "But you did finally see her again right?"
Vanessa hesitated. She did see Lisa again. But the Lisa that she had met again a year and a half later was so dramatically different that Vanessa had a hard time believing they were the same person.
Vanessa didn't say anything and Rick could tell that Vanessa was growing nervous.
"You were there on that training exercise in Belgium right?" asked Rick.
Rick saw Vanessa shudder and could see in her eyes that she feared he was going to ask her to re-tell the story. Rick shook his head and said quietly, "That's alright, you don't have to tell me. I read the report."
"Is that what you were upset about?" asked Vanessa.
Rick said, "Yes, partially. How long was she away from the Academy?"
Vanessa pondered for a moment, "I'd say, for about half of year, from what I can remember and what I've been told."
"Do you know why she was out for so long?" inquired Rick.
Vanessa shrugged, "I was told that she was away because her father requested it."
Rick stared off and Vanessa could tell that there was a different reason why Lisa had been away. Vanessa was about to ask him when Rick stood up and offered to get her another cup of coffee. After she said she didn't want another one he started shuffling around the kitchen and changed the subject. Vanessa knew to draw the line there and didn't press the issue. Rick would tell her on his own time, and even if he didn't it was alright, because it was private and she knew didn't have to know everything about everyone all the time.
Vanessa told Rick she was going to head home so she could rest up for her departure tommorrow. Rick was adamant about seeing her off and after she gave him the departure information he gave her a hug.
"You'll be fine. And you'll knock their socks off! Don't ever doubt yourself alright? Promise me?" said Rick, sounding like a brother.
Vanessa shook her head, "Well, Admiral, that's only if you promise me the same thing."
Rick looked down at the floor, "I...uh...I am not...I refused the promotion."
"Oh..." uttered a disappointed Vanessa. "I...uh...well...well then, I guess I'll see you tommorrow." It was all she could do or say to try and hide her bitter disappointment. She waved to Rick and then quickly headed out the door.
Rick closed the door and leaned against it and let himself slide down to the floor with a huge sigh. "I'm in a no-win situation," he said sadly.
Rick picked himself up and went back to Lisa's bedroom and lay down on the bed. "Oh Lisa...I just need to hear your voice right now..." he said to the empty room.

* * * * * * *

Kim had finished her various meetings for the evening and after making sure that Lisa was comfortable and settled in her Admiral's quarters, Kim made her way to the Mess Hall for a late dinner.
The Factory Satellite had been fitted with a mini-city for Micronians. Though not on the scale of what Macross was inside the SDF-1, it was adequate and cozy enough for some 300 Micronians that worked in the presence of their Zentraedi hosts. Altogether, with the city support services staff, there were a total of about 500 Micronians living alongside some 2,000 Zentraedi.
The Mess Hall, Kim discovered when she walked through the main entrance, had a bar, and she made a specific mental note to make sure Lisa stayed away from it. As for Kim herself, she found it a welcome surprise. The Trio were wine afficionadoes and always liked to have a nightcap by sampling some new wine they had discovered. Kim hoped that this bar had some new wines that she hadn't tasted yet. She walked up to the bar and took a seat on one of the stools.
"What can I get you Commander?" asked a pudgy man behind the bar counter.
"Alex?! How are you? What are you doing here?!" asked Kim.
"Hey there, yeap. I managed to pull duty up here finally. I've been itching to get back into space," said Alex as he dried a glass with a dishtowel. "So how's the rest of the Trio?"
"They are doing ok, Sam and Vanessa are now Captains," answered Kim.
"Hey that's great! You say 'hi' to them for me alright?" said Alex cheerfully.
"Sure thing. So whatcha got?" asked Kim.
Alex shook his towel and smiled, "Well, I think you'll be happy to know that they got some pretty good Zentraedi wines, stuff you girls probably have never tasted before."
Kim smiled then checked herself and said quickly, "There's no Oidua around here is there?"
Alex looked at her with wide-eyes, "Oidua?! That's not only rare and expensive stuff, but I also heard it's very dangerous too! I suggest you stay away from that stuff, and especially make sure Lisa stays away from it."
Kim shook her head, "Too late. We both had some, courtesy of Lady Hialeah in Monument. But don't worry, we both know to stay away from that thing at all costs."
Alex was still wide-eyed and asked, "How...how did you girls get through it? I heard that is wicked stuff. Makes people do crazy things."
Kim tried to play down things and said, "Well, we got through it somehow."
Alex shook his head and asked, "So, what shall it be?"
Kim thought a moment then said, "I leave it up to your judgement, you've never let me down. Just give me one of those new Zentraedi wines please."
Alex saluted, "Sure thing ma'am!"
A man came up to the bar and sat three seats down from Kim. "Hey there Lieutenant Kohl, I'll be with you in a second sir."
Lieutenant Kohl waved at Alex and said, "No problem, take your time."
Kim turned her head sideways to get a look at this 'Lieutenant Kohl' the one whom she was going to clobber when she first met up with him.
Lieutenant Kohl looked over at her and jumped in his seat a bit. He knew who she was and was getting ready to receive her wrath for being responsible for getting Lisa injured. Lieutenant Kohl stood up and saluted Kim.
"Lieutenant Kirk Kohl?" asked Kim, her voice a bit icy.
"Yes ma'am," answered Kohl calmly.
Kim was ready to unleash her tongue lashing when Alex came over and placed Kim's drink in front of her.
"Put that on my tab please, Alex," said Kohl.
Kim raised an eyebrow and said cockily, "So, you think you can get off the hook by buying me a drink?"
Kohl tried not to laugh, he thought that Kim looked very cute when she was angry.
Kohl scratched his eyebrow and said, "Well, I didn't expect to get off the hook, I was just hoping that you wouldn't hurt me as badly as you intended."
Kim narrowed her eyes and then smirked. "I really should break both of your legs, and your arms, but I'll hold on that for now."
Kohl smiled, "Thank you ma'am, that's very kind of you. Perhaps inviting you and Admiral Hayes to dinner to make up for my lousy piloting skills will persuade you not to want to put me in the hospital?"
Kim furrowed her brow and Kohl continued, in a more serious tone this time, "Look, Commander. I feel...I feel really terrible about what happened. Really I do. I wonder why I should remain a pilot, because it seems I'm a pretty lousy one. I went to visit her in the infirmary and I saw her injuries, I... damn, I wish it had been me and not her that were injured. I'd trade places with her in a split second."
Kohl looked sincere and very remorseful and Kim actually felt sorry for him. She looked him over a bit. He wasn't what she would consider handsome or cute, he was sorta average looking. He wasn't very muscular either. But what struck her was that Kohl exuded a sort of genuine, harmless, friendliness. If she didn't think of him as dating material, at least they could probably both be friends.
Kim exhaled tiredly, "Alright. I can see that you are remorseful for what happened, so I won't put you in the infirmary with broken limbs. But, I am giving you a direct order to never ever fly Lisa anywhere again, do you understand me?"
Kohl nodded, "Yes ma'am."
Kim thought to ask, "So if you don't like flying, why did you become a pilot?"
Kohl shrugged, "Well, I guess I thought it was a good idea at the time. After the SDF-1 was decommissioned, I didn't have a job really, so I switched over to VT since they needed pilots and the pay was good. I was hoping to resume my old post once the SDF-2 was launched, but well, we both know what happened to that idea."
Kim agreed, "Yeah. Well, once the SDF-3 is ready, maybe you can get back to your old station. I'm sure Lisa would approve of it."
Alex put a plate of spagetti in front of Kim and Kohl ordered himself the same thing, telling Alex once again, to put everything on his tab. After half an hour of eating their dinner and chatting about the Factory Satellite, Kohl offered to walk Kim to her quarters and she accepted.
As they left the Mess Hall, Kohl asked, "Do you think it's possible for me to see Admiral Hayes. I just want to check on her and see how she's doing...and apologize, again."
Kim shrugged, "Sure, I don't see why not."
As Kim and Kohl stepped into the elevator Kohl lowered his voice and said, "Oh by the way ma'am, I thought I should mention to you that the Admiral was pretty upset when we had launched from Monument. She was crying in fact. I know it's none of my business but if there's anything I can help with, just let me know. I guess she and Hunter must've had a fight or something. He's the only person who can upset her like that."
Kim thought for a moment and said, "Thank you for telling me about this Lieutenant."
Kohl held up his hand and said, "Please, call me Kirk. We're off duty and I was never one for ranks."
Kim shook her head in acknowledgement and continued, "Also, please make sure you don't mention this to anyone alright?"
"Of course I won't ma'am." replied Kohl.
As they stepped out of the elevator Kim sighed, "This is like a never-ending painful soap opera, the Hunter-Hayes saga. Watching them makes me almost glad that I don't have a boyfriend or husband."
Kohl looked at her with a bit of surprise, "You're not seeing anyone right now? I had heard that you and Sammie and Vanessa...er... I mean Captains Leeds and Porter, were going out with the three Zentraedi former-spies."
Kim threw up one hand absently, "Well, that didn't really work out. They have enough trouble trying to get used to being Micronians."
"Yeah, I could imagine," replied Kohl.
"What about you Lieu-... Kirk?" asked Kim.
Kohl took a long time to answer and finally said, "No. Not me. I decided several years ago that I would remain a bachelor."
Kim was intrigued, "Any reason why?"
Kohl paused again and then finally said, "Nah, I just have had bad luck in that department that's all."
Kim was going to ask for more details but she stopped herself, realizing she was being too nosey. They walked for another minute then were in front of Lisa's door. Kim looked at her watch, it was 11pm.
"Let me go in first and check on her, she might be asleep," stated Kim.
Kohl acknowledged her by nodding and putting his hands in his pockets and leaning up against the wall to wait for her return.
Kim entered Lisa's quarters and then went into her bedroom and saw that it looked like Lisa was asleep. Her back was bare and Kim could see that it appeared that fresh bandages and sutures had been put on by the nurse who was suppose to come back that evening and check on Lisa. Kim pulled the sheet over Lisa and then walked back out to retrieve Kohl.
"She's asleep, but you can check on her if it will make you feel better," Kim said.
Kohl followed Kim into the room and looked at Lisa for several moments. Kim watched Kohl and wondered what was going through his mind because he had an unreadable look on his face. After awhile he whispered, "She's had a tough life hasn't she? It makes me realize that all my problems are quite trite compared to hers."
Kohl looked down at the floor and spotted something. He picked it up and it was a small plastic pill container. He held it out to Kim who took it and looked at it quickly. With a frightful expression on her face, Kim went over to Lisa and called out her name but Lisa didn't stir. So Kim shook Lisa gently on the shoulder and Lisa still didn't stir. Kim then shook Lisa harder and Lisa still didn't wake up. Kim, with panic in her eyes looked at Kohl, then she felt for a pulse on Lisa's neck and breathed a sigh of relief soon afterwards. Kohl, his eyes full of concern, felt Lisa's pulse too and said to Kim, "I think she should be ok."
Kim looked at him skeptically and Kohl quickly answered, "I have a bit of training as a medic, but if you are really worried, we can call the doctor."
Kim looked at him for a moment then asked, "What are those pills for?"
Kohl read over the label and said, "Looks like painkillers. This particular one though, seems to have a drowsiness component, so I guess it could also be used as a sleeping pill too."
Kim muttered under her breath, "Dammit Lisa, don't start on this. Don't do this to me now."
Kohl looked at Kim with an understanding look, "Remember, if you ever need my help, let me know. I think the best thing to do is to patch things up between her and Hunter as soon as possible."
Kim gave him a startled look and he replied, "Of course I know about their little soap opera, who doesn't. And I also know about her self-destructive behavior."
"Don't you dare tell anyone about this incident, I can handle it and if I can't then I wil make sure someone does," said Kim, pointing her finger at Kohl.
Kohl shook his head, "I give you my word Commander. You can trust me."
Though Kim had just met Kohl, she seemed thoroughly convinced that he spoke the absolute truth. She shook her head and they headed out to the living room area.
"I'm going to stay here tonight to make sure she's ok," stated Kim.
Kohl asked, "Is there anything you need, anything I can get you?"
Kim pondered for a moment then told him to she would be fine and asked him to stay for a few minutes more so she could go to her quarters and get her clothes and other things she needed for the night. After she came back she thanked Kohl and offered him something to drink.
"Yes...actually, I could use some hot tea right now," answered Kohl quietly.
Kim went to the kitchenette and fixed some tea for she and Kohl and they sat down at the small kitchen table.
"Were you really serious when you said you'd stay a bachelor for the rest of your life?" asked Kim, still curious about the question.
Kohl shrugged, "I don't know. But I guess what I should say is that I'm not going around looking for a wife, and if I end up 80 years old and still single, then it's ok with me."
"Don't you think it will be lonely though?" asked Kim.
Kohl cocked his head to one side and thought about it for a moment, "Yeah maybe, but if I have a group of close, reliable friends, then I think I should be alright."
"Do you have a lot of friends up here on the Satellite?" inquired Kim.
Kohl put down his cup, "Actually, not really. That's why I was hoping maybe you can the Admiral and I could become friends. You know you girls are somewhat of celebrities."
Kim rolled her eyes, "Ok let me guess, did you have a crush on any one of us? You know we were told that by some of the guys we met at the Valentine's Day party and we didn't believe them at first, but they told us the stories. It was so wierd; we had absolutely no idea were were that recognizable."
Kohl chuckled and said shyly, "Well...I did have a crush on Captain Grant for awhile..."
Kim gafawed, "No way!"
Kohl answered embarrassed, "Yea, I did."
Kim waved her hand again, "That's something, haha. Ok, don't worry, I won't tell anyone."
Lieutenant Kohl looked at her with an unconvinced look.
Kim laughed, "Really really, us Trio are not as big a blabbermouth as everyone thinks we are!"
"Alright, I will take your word for it," said Kohl, faking a wary tone.
Kohl finished up his tea then announced, "I better get going now, it's pretty late and I haven't had much sleep these past 24 hours. If it's alright with you, I'll stop by in the morning to check on Admiral Hayes again. Call me before then if you need anything."
Kim nodded and stood up and walked him to the door. She held out her hand and said, "Thank you for your help."
Kohl shook her hand then slumped his shoudlers a bit, "It's the least I can do, I mean it is my fault afterall."
Kim shook her head, her anger at Kohl diminished, "No, it's really not anyone's fault."
Kohl looked towards Lisa's room and asked, "Is it alright if I see her one more time, before I leave?"
Kim moved out of the way and Kohl headed to the room and gazed at the sleeping Lisa for a few moments, then headed back towards the door and after bidding goodnight to Kim, headed to his quarters.
Kim fixed her blankets on the couch and settled down to try and go to sleep. She had many things to worry about at the moment, one of them of course was Lisa. She hoped that Lisa wasn't going to become dependent on these painkillers and Kim needed to come up with contingency plans if she did indeed become hooked on them. Another worry was how to keep this potential problem underwraps. In other words, how was she going to cover it up? She need to think about how to do that too. Kim also needed to get used to her new surroundings. It was very strange to be living on the Satellite. This was her first trip there and during the day she had gotten lost several times an been late to a few meetings as a result of it. She wanted to get familiar with the place ASAP becaused she hated being late to any meetings, especially if she were suppose to be Lisa's representative. One last problem that caused her some insomnia was this new guy Kohl. He seemed like a pretty decent guy and she thought it would be nice to be friends with him. She was keenly aware that they were inadvertantly flirting with each other every so often, but she was also aware that he also had an interest in Lisa it appeared. Though she didn't perceive any threat from him, she knew that if Rick caught him getting close to Lisa then Rick might get jealous. Or perhaps...maybe jealousy was something Rick needed to experience. Nah. She couldn't do that, that was mean to all parties involved. She sighed, wondering if she herself should take one of Lisa's sleeping pills. She decided not to, it would just make things worse to have both of them strung out on painkillers, so she turned on some quiet, sleepy music and closed her eyes, hoping she would fall asleep quickly.