fanfic_name = Two Sides

author = Dwparsnip

dedicate = Everyone at DYRL, with a special mention to Aiki for looking it over for me.

Rating = AP15

Type = Angst

fanfic = *All references to Robotech and it's characters © Harmony Gold, Inc.

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At 1800 hours, Admiral Rick Hunter sat in his office and looked out the view port in his office at the stars and thought to himself, ‘I wonder what she’s doing right now?’

 

What was really annoying to Rick was the fact that this wasn’t the first time in the last week that he had had that thought. He and Lisa had been so busy that they were apart more than they were together. So much so in fact, that when they did see each other it seemed that the only thing they had in common was work. What little alone time they could get was spent catching up on rest. He couldn’t remember the last time they really kissed each other with passion, and he certainly couldn’t remember the last time they were intimate.

 

He missed her terribly.

 

And it was starting to grate on him.

 

He knew though that it was harder on Lisa. While he was responsible for the military aspect of the REF, she was responsible for everything. He couldn’t imagine the weight that was pressing down on her delicate shoulders on a daily basis.

 

He reached to the communications console and contacted the bridge. To his surprise, the ship’s executive officer answered the call, not his wife.

 

“Hi Captain. Is the Admiral around?”, he asked, trying to hide his disappointment.

 

Captain Forsythe looked at Rick sympathetically and said, ‘Sorry Admiral. She locked herself in her office a few minutes ago with the threat of a court-martial for anyone who interrupted her.’

 

Rick smiled and said, “Well, I wouldn’t want anyone to get court-martialed today. Thanks Captain.”

 

‘You’re welcome, sir’

 

He opened the private channel to Lisa’s office, and when she answered she looked like fire was going to come out of her mouth when she spoke.

 

Rick smiled and said, “Hi Lisa. How are you?”

 

‘I’m fine Rick. I’d be better if I could get some of this work done’

 

Rick was shocked by her harshness, though he knew that the annoyance in her voice wasn’t directed at him personally.

 

“I’m sorry to interrupt you, Lisa, I just needed to see you and hear your voice.”

 

She looked at him tiredly over the channel and said impatiently, ‘I’m sorry, Rick, not now.’

 

And with that she closed the channel.

 

Rick leaned back in his chair. That had been the normal way of things in the last week. She was either too busy, too exhausted or too angry at something or someone to even talk to. He felt sorry for her. She was responsible for so much, being torn in so many directions at the same time. He honestly didn’t know how she hadn’t gone insane or collapsed from fatigue.

 

Rick closed his eyes and got an idea. He opened his eyes and reached for the communications panel again and called the hangar deck.

 

‘Hangar deck, Chief Ross speaking.’

 

“Hi Chief”, said Rick excitedly. “This is Admiral Hunter. I’d like to go out for a flight. Can you get an Alpha ready for me please?”

 

‘I can do you one better, Admiral. Alpha three-five-nine is already fueled up and ready to go. The pilot that was supposed to take her out came down with a mild case of food poisoning and she had to scrub her flight. You’re more than welcome to it, sir.’

 

“That’s perfect, Chief. I’ll be down within fifteen minutes.”

 

‘Understood sir. I’ll get her prepped for you. Hangar deck out.’

 

Rick closed the connection and smiled.

 

He went out of his office into his domain, the Situation Room. He looked around for his aide, Captain Vince Grant, and when he spotted him over by one of the many radar consoles, he went to stand beside him.

 

When Vince finished instructing a young ensign on some of the finer points of etiquette in the Situation Room, Rick said to him, “I’m going for a short flight around the system Vince. You’re in charge until I get back.”

 

Vince didn’t relish the idea and said, “Sir, are you sure you wouldn’t rather General Sterling to stand in?”

 

Rick smiled and patted Vince’s shoulder. “Don’t worry Vince, I won’t be long.”

 

Vince had only been assigned to the Sit. Room recently, and he didn’t yet feel comfortable in running things. Rick however, wouldn’t be gone for long and he was sure it would do wonders for Vince’s confidence to run the show for a little while. Besides, Max was out having his own bit of fun flying.

 

Rick walked out of the Sit. Room and headed for the hangar deck, several decks below. He walked briskly, the thought of being in an Alpha out in space spurring him on to walk faster and faster. When he got to the hangar he was almost out of breath.

 

He checked in with the Chief to make sure everything was ready and headed for the pilot’s locker room to change into one of the flight suits he kept in there for times like these or times when he had to go off ship.

 

Years of practice were still engrained into his very being so it only took him only a few moments to get into his flight suit. He grabbed his red and white helmet and headed for the flight deck.

 

The Chief had just finished his pre-flight inspection as Rick walked up to the Alpha.

 

“She’s all set, sir. Have a safe trip.”

 

“Thanks Chief. See you in a little while.”

 

Rick put on his helmet and climbed up into the cockpit, taking only a second to familiarize himself with the controls. ‘Just like riding a bike.’ He lowered the canopy and opened his mic.

 

“Flight Control, this is Admiral Hunter aboard Alpha three-five-nine, requesting permission to depart.”

 

‘Roger that, Admiral. Your call sign for this flight will be Echo One. Please confirm.’

 

“Confirmed Flight Control. Call sign Echo One.”

 

‘Roger, Echo One. Permission to depart granted. You may leave at your discretion.’

 

“Roger that, Flight. Echo One thrusters hot in 3…2…1…mark.”

 

He threw the throttle forward and a second later was flying among the stars.

 

For three quarters of an hour Rick put the Alpha through it's paces. It had been a long time since Rick had flown like this, and it invigorated him. He was just putting the finishing touches on a particularly difficult sequence of maneuvers when a face appeared on the screen and he heard a very familiar voice over the communication net.

 

‘Whoever is flying that plane should have his license revoked’, said Max Sterling with a grin on his face and laughter in his voice.

 

Rick gave him a short laugh and said, “Don’t you dare try, Max. Besides, I’ve seen you fly a lot more recklessly and dangerous than this.”

 

Even on the small communication screen Rick could see that Max had blushed a little.

 

“Besides”, continued Rick, “There’s nothing like a few high gee twists and turns to rid the body of frustration.”

 

Max understood what Rick meant. On more than one occasion Max had burned up the stars and the skies in an attempt to do just that.

 

‘All right Boss’, said Max. ‘Just be careful.’

 

Rick gave Max a little salute and said playfully, “Yes, Dad.”

 

Max just laughed and closed the channel. It always gave Rick a good feeling, sitting in an Alpha, talking to Max on the communication channel. Just like old times. It was time for Rick to head in anyway. He was feeling a lot better, the flight and being among the stars had helped tremendously. But there was one thing that would have done better. ‘Lisa.’

 

It was as he thought of his wife that an idea came to him. He radioed Flight Control and informed them that he would be making a slow, in close run at the bridge of the ship.

 

He headed for the bridge and slowed to a crawl. He suspected that she would still be in her office, just off the bridge to the port side of the ship, so he maneuvered in closer to that area.

 

There was a fairly sizable view port in her office, and when he did what he wanted to do, he would have no trouble getting a good look in there.

 

Now just meters away, he reached for the configuration lever and pulled it to Battloid. The Alpha transformed from the fighter mode into a Battloid.

 

Rick maneuvered the Battloid so that the head was level with her window, and he carefully activated the thrusters to bring him in closer. Closer and closer to the ship the Battloid went. When the front edge of the Battloid was only a couple of meters from the window he stopped the forward momentum and ordered the thrusters at station keeping so that the Battloid would remain still.

 

He looked into her office and saw her sitting at her desk talking to someone on the communication video screen. There was a man sitting on the couch in her office with a couple of folders in his hand. The couch was on the far wall, facing the window so Rick could get a good look at the person. He searched his memory for his name. ‘Lieutenant Commander Isaac Stevens, from engineering if I’m not mistaken.’

 

Lisa finished her conversation and after she closed the channel she went to sit beside Stevens on the couch. They talked about whatever was on the papers Stevens held he assumed, but Rick noticed that Stevens barely took his eyes off of Lisa.

 

‘Get a grip, Rick. She’s having a meeting, nothing else.’ Still, his mind was screaming at him to call her on the communication channel, knock on the window, something.

 

But he didn’t. For some reason he couldn’t figure out, he couldn’t. Through the computer enhanced visual receptors of the Battloid he watched his wife with this person.

 

She dropped something, he couldn’t see what it was, and both Lisa and Stevens reached for it. There hands met on the object and stayed there for several seconds. They looked at each other, and he brought his hand up, still holding hers, and placed their joined hands on her knee. They just stayed there like it for a few more seconds, holding hands and looking into each other’s eyes, and Rick was going insane with fright, anger and jealousy.

 

Just when Rick thought his heart was going to stop, everything slowed to half speed and Stevens leaned in and kissed Lisa.

 

And she didn’t stop him.

 

Rick’s trembling finger pressed the appropriate section of the screen to zoom in, and watched in horror as his wife returned the kiss of this man as she brought her hands up to hold his face. The kiss was becoming more and more passionate as the seconds ticked by, until Lisa was leaned back on the arm of the couch with Stevens moving in to rest on top of her.

 

Rick couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He forced himself to watch, if for no other reason than to make sure it was real and not a nightmare.

 

Stevens touched her tenderly, and as his hand moved to take the zipper on the front of his wife’s uniform, Rick almost lost his lunch. Slowly, ever so slowly, Stevens brought the zipper down, down, down…

 

When the zipper reached Lisa’s navel area, Rick turned off the monitor and moved the Battloid down below the window. When he reached a safe distance, he reconfigured to fighter mode and took off away from the ship at full throttle.

 

He was enraged and so terribly hurt at the same time. Thoughts of his wife went through his head at an ungodly speed, thoughts of her in New Macross, the SDF-1, their wedding, Roy’s birth and so on and so on.

 

‘Flight Control to Echo One. Captain Grant requests a word with you, sir.’

 

Rick opened his mouth to respond, but he couldn’t speak.

 

‘Echo One, this is Flight Control, do you read me?’

 

“Affirmative…Flight Control. I read you. Ah, please inform Captain Grant that I am now returning to the ship and I’ll talk to him shortly.”

 

‘Understood, Echo One. The pattern is empty and you may return at your discretion.’

 

”Acknowledged, Flight Control.”

 

Moments later Rick was in the pilot’s locker room changing back into his uniform. He couldn’t for the life of him remember bringing the Alpha in for a landing or climbing out of the cockpit. Everything after turning off the monitor outside Lisa’s office was a blank.

 

He made his way back to the Sit. Room. He went inside and a relieved Vince came up to him and said, “Man, am glad you’re back. I don’t know if I’m…Rick, are you okay?”

 

The question shook Rick out of his daze and he smiled for Vince’s benefit. “Fine Vince, I’m fine. You did fine work Vince. You’ll get the hang of it, I promise.”

 

Vince looked at Rick and gave him a grateful smile.

 

Rick looked at him and said, “It’s late. Why don’t you go on and get out of here.”

 

Vince looked at Rick and said happily, “You don’t have to tell me twice.” He started to leave but stopped and turned around to look at Rick. “Are you sure you’re all right, Rick.”

 

Rick smiled at Vince again and said, “You bet. See you tomorrow.”

 

Vince nodded and left the Sit. Room. It was late, and the only people in there besides Rick were three radar techs. The basic night time skeleton crew.

 

Rick looked at the most senior tech, who doubled during the night shift as the duty officer and said, “Lieutenant Harrison, I’m gong to do some paperwork in my office. If anyone besides General Sterling asks, I’m very busy and don’t want to be disturbed. Understood?”

 

She nodded and said smartly, “Yes, sir.”

 

He nodded back and headed into his office. He sat down in his chair, put his elbows on his desk and rubbed his eyes.

 

‘What now?’, he asked himself. ‘Do I confront her, talk to her, do I go home…what do I do?’

 

The thought of Lisa being with another man tore him apart inside. And the more he thought about it the more it hurt. He had almost hoped that he would get angrier and angrier, but much to his dismay he kept hurting and hurting.

 

‘What good is going to come of talking to her about it until I figure out what I’m feeling? She’s going to want to know what I feel, what I intend to do. How can I tell her when I don’t know myself? I need to think, or at least try. I need to get off this ship and away from her for a couple of days and try to figure it out.’ The thought never occurred to him that there might have been more to it…he saw what he saw, and as far as he was concerned, it was pretty self-explanatory.

 

He reached for the communicator and called the hangar deck again.

 

When the Chief answered, Rick said, “Chief, can you get another Alpha ready by tomorrow morning for me. It’s going to be an extended trip so I’m going to need the extra fuel tanks. Is that a problem?”

 

The Chief thought for a second and replied, ‘No sir, no problem at all. She’ll be ready by 0700, sir.’

 

“If you need me, call me in my office Chief. I’ll…be burning the midnight oil getting some work done before I go. Oh and Chief…don’t let anyone know about this. It’s just between you and me. Understood?”

 

‘Yes, sir’, came the reply.

 

“Thanks, Chief. Hunter out.”

 

Rick spent the next five hours going over a flight plan, writing instructions and doing work, anything and everything to keep his mind off of his wife. Before he knew it, it was 1230.

 

He realized that Lisa hadn’t called looking for him, and that brought on a new wave of pain in his chest. He went to the couch, turned off the light and lid down, setting the alarm on his wristwatch for 0630.

 

He thought of Lisa again, and he thought of her and Stevens in her office. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t stop thinking about it.

 

The alarm on his watch went off. ‘0630? Man, I thought I just turned off the light!’

 

He got up and stretched. After getting all the kinks out, he got the bag full of spare clothes and personal items that he kept in his office in case of sudden trips or emergencies.

 

He exited his office and walked up to the senior tech.

 

“Rachel, I’m going off ship for a few days. The trip is a bit sudden, so I haven’t had the time to inform everyone. Here are some orders for General Sterling and Captain Grant. I would appreciate it if you give those orders to them. General Sterling will be in command of the Sit. Room in my absence.”

 

“Aye, sir. May I ask how long you’ll be gone for, sir?”

 

“Three days.” Rick turned to walk away towards the door and said over his shoulder, “I’ll see you all then.”

 

“Sir?”

 

Rick turned around to look at Harrison and said, “What is it, Lieutenant?”

 

She came closer to him and lowered her voice. “Sir, Admiral Hunter called for you around 2240 hours last night, sir. I told her you didn’t want to be disturbed and she said she’d call back”

 

Rick nodded and said, “Thanks, Lieutenant.” She replied “Aye, sir.”

 

When he got into the hallway, he looked at the note he had written for Lisa. He didn’t want to go home, but he didn’t want to depend on someone else to give it to her either. He decided to go and slip it under their door, so that when she left to go to work she’d find it. He approached their door and when he reached it, he glanced around to make sure no one was watching and then slipped the note underneath the door. He stood up and after one last look at the door, he turned and headed for the hangar deck. He didn’t know what to think about the fact that she had called him. ‘She did call. On the other hand, she never called back, or even called my office line.’ The realization stung him. ‘If she really wanted to see me or speak to me, she could have.’

 

Once again he changed into a flight suit in the pilot’s locker room, and when he was done headed towards the Alpha that was waiting for him.

 

He thanked the Chief, climbed aboard and initiated the pre-flight sequence.

 

“Flight Control, this is Admiral Hunter, requesting departure instructions.”

 

‘Roger, Admiral Hunter. Your call sign for this flight will be Tango Three, please confirm.’

 

“Confirmed, Flight Control. Call sign Tango Three.”

 

‘Stand by, Tango Three.’

 

A few minutes went by and Rick got impatient. “Flight Control, what’s the problem up there?”

 

‘Rick’, came a familiar feminine voice over the communication channel a few seconds later.

 

His heart skipped a beat when he heard her voice, and he wasn’t sure he could trust himself to talk to her.

 

‘Rick’, she said again. ‘What’s going on? Where are you going?’

 

A light came to life on his communication video screen, indicating that someone was trying to initiate a video link with him.

 

He cleared his throat, activated the video link and said quietly, “I’m taking a three day vacation, Admiral.”

 

‘What’s wrong, Rick?’

 

He was surprised that she sounded and looked so genuinely concerned. “Nothing Admiral. I just wanted to leave the ship for a few days.”

 

‘Rick, please come up here and talk to me.’ It almost sounded to him like she was begging.

 

“Negative, Admiral. I’m ready to go, and I would prefer to wait…to talk to you.”

 

‘Wait to talk to me? Why? About what? Rick! Talk to me, please!’

 

“Is this a secure channel?”, he asked her.

 

He saw her reach and heard a click, indicating that she had just switched to one when she said, ‘It is now. What’s going on? Why did you leave me a note instead of talking to me?’

 

Instead of answering her question he pretended to look at some of the gauges and asked, “How was your day yesterday?”

 

She looked confused. ‘What? Fine. Rick please…’

 

“A lot of meetings?”

 

‘Yes.’

 

He made himself look at her. “How was your meeting with Commander Stevens?”

 

She turned as white as a ghost, and her voice betrayed her concern in what he was trying to say. ‘Stevens. Fine…that meeting was…fine.’

 

“It looked like it was a lot more than fine to me, Admiral.”

 

She looked visibly distressed. ‘What are you talking about Rick?’

 

He summoned what strength he could, took a deep breath and admitted, “I saw you, Admiral. I saw you kiss him.”

 

Her eyes were wide with shock. ‘How did…Rick?’

 

He closed his eyes and began. “I missed you yesterday.” He opened his eyes and forced himself to look at her. “I called you and you were so…distant, and I missed you…so much. I took an Alpha out for a flight and decided to surprise you by going to Battloid and knocking on your office window, but when I looked inside I got the surprise.”

 

‘Rick, you don’t understand…’

 

“That’s an understatement”, he said tiredly. “I saw you Lisa. I saw you hold hands. I saw you kiss him. I saw you pull him over to lie on top of you. And I saw him undo your uniform.”

 

‘Rick you’ve got to listen to me! It wasn’t…” As she spoke he could see tears in her eyes, and it filled him with anger. “Don’t you dare cry, Admiral!”, he interrupted. “What right do you have to cry right now?”

 

She jumped as if he’d struck her, and despite the pain and anger he was feeling, he felt sorry for startling her.

 

‘Rick, there’s more to it, it’s not what you think. I didn’t realize it wasn’t…’

 

He didn’t want to hear it. “Admiral, I need to be alone right now. I need to know what I am feeling before I can even begin to talk about this, and I can’t do that aboard ship.”

 

‘Rick, where…’

 

“I’ve left orders for Max to take control of the Sit. Room, and he has my flight plan and destination. Please don’t ask him anything about it, unless it’s an emergency.” His eyes went cold and he said, “You owe me that much.”

 

The tears were flowing freely down her cheeks, and he tried very, very hard to ignore them.

 

‘Please Rick, there’s so much I have to tell you …’

 

“Request permission to leave the ship, Admiral.”

 

‘Rick, I love you.’

 

“Flight Control”, he called as he reopened the frequency. “Do I have permission to leave or not?”

 

He looked at her with a steely gaze. She said yes, and a second later he heard, ‘Flight Control to Tango Three. You may leave when ready. Have a safe trip, sir.’

 

“Roger that, Flight Control.”

 

He looked down at the communication panel and watched as Lisa kissed her hand and then placed her hand on the screen. He reached down and closed the channel before she could see his own tears.

 

He moved the throttle forward and he shot out of the hangar bay. He set his course and just looked around at the stars, oblivious to the danger he was flying into.

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

The patrol had been lost for over two years. Circumstance and treachery had made it so, and when the Invid in the patrol finally found familiar stars, everything in those stars had changed in their absence. The Regent was dead, Optera had been conquered and the Invid decimated. The decision was made after days of reconnaissance and message interception to attack the root cause of their Regent’s defeat, these humans from Earth.

 

The decision was made to attack their flagship, what they called SDF-3. They would be outnumbered and outgunned, but they had one advantage.

 

Surprise.

 

They had studied their enemy. Their patrols largely ignored their current hiding place, and their stealth mode rendered the enemy’s radar and sensors useless.

 

They would surprise them, and soon.

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

Rick tried to concentrate on flying his ship, but didn’t totally succeed in blocking out the image of Lisa crying.

 

He was flying along the same route he flew several years ago when he took Lisa on a second honeymoon. Around the planets and moons of the system, a very roundabout journey.

 

He was almost enjoying the scenery when something caught his eye around the primary moon of the fourth planet in the system. The REF had designated that moon “Castor.”

 

He checked his radar and sensors, but they reported nothing. But his eyes told him something was there. He altered his course to go take a closer look, and the closer he got the more sure he was that he saw three Invid Carriers. He checked the radar again. It didn’t see them, even though it was picking up the moon and two sizable asteroids in front him.

 

‘They’re blocking the radar! Holy…’

 

He keyed open the mic and said loudly, “Tango Three to SDF-3! Emergency message! There are three, I say again three Invid Carriers hiding behind ‘Castor’. Do you copy SDF-3?”

 

There was a moment’s hesitation. ‘Tango Three, we’re not picking up any ships on our scopes.’

 

Rick was trying to adjust his radar and sensor harmonics as he said, “Neither do I, SDF-3. But I have visual confirmation of three Invid Carriers!”

 

‘Return to ship immediately, Rick’, came Max’s voice.

 

Rick screwed up his nose. “Are you picking them up yet Max?”

 

‘Negative Tango Three. Return to ship immediately.’

 

He tried adjusting the harmonics to the higher range. “If you can’t see them, you need someone to be your eyes.”

 

‘Rick’, said Max, ‘the Skull is already on their way to your position. They will handle it. Get back here now!’

 

“Sorry Max, but you can’t give me orders.” The higher range wasn’t working. He began searching the lower ranges.

 

‘Admiral Hunter’, came Lisa’s voice. It was forceful, but he knew her well enough to know that there was fear in there as well. ‘You are ordered to return to the ship immediately.’

 

“Stand by SDF-3.”

 

He was just beginning to get a picture on his radar when a particle beam shot a few feet above his canopy.

 

He cursed and reversed course as Max asked worriedly, ‘What is it Rick?’

 

“I’m under attack. Looked like six, maybe eight Invid Enforcers. I’ll try to outrun them, while I fine-tune the radar.”

 

The throttle was as far as it could go and initiated some evasive maneuvers, but the Enforcers were catching up. Rick tuned the harmonics. ‘Almost. A bit more. A little bit more…got it!’

 

“Tango Three to SDF-3. Tune radar and sensor harmonics to frequency 3368.673 gigahertz.”

 

His Alpha shook with another close call.

 

He knew he couldn’t keep ahead of them for much longer. “Max, I’m reading nine Enforcers on my tail. How far away is the Skull?”

 

‘They’re still 4 minutes away Rick,’ came Max’s reply.

 

Rick shook his head and informed the Situation Room of his intentions. “No good, Max. The Enforcers will be on me in one minute. I’m going to have to fight them.”

 

‘Rick!’, shouted Lisa almost hysterically. ‘You can’t!’

 

Hearing the apprehension in her voice, he confidently said, “I don’t have a choice, Admiral.”

 

He turned the Alpha around and headed for the oncoming Enforcers, slowing his speed slightly. He had several target locks with his missiles, and while he knew most of them would evade the missiles at this range, he may get a couple. He pressed the thumb trigger and a dozen missiles released from the Alpha and flew towards their targets.

 

The explosions were numerous, but his now active radar confirmed that only 2 of the nine Enforcers were destroyed.

 

He switched to Guardian mode and brought the massive canon to bear, along with the short-range missiles and nose cone lasers. Three more Enforcers bit the dust, and as Rick pushed the throttle forward and he rushed in towards the enemy he began a series of zigzag maneuvers, his finger and thumb working feverishly on the triggers. When he broke though their lines there were only two Enforcers left. He switched back to fighter mode and punched in a course for the ship, hoping the remaining Invid would break off and regroup.

 

No such luck.

 

Particle beams shot passed him as he initiated evasive maneuvers. He now had the Skull on his radar heading towards him, but they were still over a minute away.

 

‘All right Rick. Just two more. Not that tough.’

 

His Alpha took a hit and warning messages began flashing on his screen. The threat detection computer announced incoming missiles and Rick released his countermeasures. As was the plan, the missiles deviated from their pursuit of Rick and headed for the decoys.

 

Rick ducked and dodged and evaded. Finally though, the Enforcers maneuvered themselves in front of him, and the space between him and them was filled with particle beams, plasma discs, missiles, lasers and pulse beams.

 

‘It’s a real nice light show’, it occurred to Rick.

 

He banked right and reconfigured to Battloid. He shot straight up and brought the Battloid’s massive weapon to bear on the closest Enforcer. It fell apart as the pulse rounds tore into it.

 

Rick noted that the last Invid was sweeping around to his left, and as the Invid he had fired at began to explode he locked onto the last one and released a barrage of missiles, while darting to his left to face it if it survived his missiles.

 

The Enforcer took a hit from one of his missiles, which sheared off its right particle canon, and another hit from his own canon.

 

Rick was distracted by the approach of the Skull and only peripherally noticed the last Enforcer blow apart.

 

What he didn’t notice however, was that the Enforcer got off one final shot, which headed straight for him.

 

‘Rick, watch out!’, came Miriya’s horrified voice over the tac net.

 

He knew the Enforcer was gone and his radar showed no more Invid around, so for a split second he was lost. He raised the Battloid’s head to look in the direction of the last Enforcer and just caught the barest glimpse of the plasma disc as it slammed into the stomach of his Battloid.

 

There were several small explosions and smoke filled his cockpit. Warning indicators were blinking everywhere giving the cockpit an eerie glow. He remembered hearing the alarm indicating that the fire suppression system activated and that emergency life support was functioning.

 

It was just about then that he realized there was a pain in the left side of his abdomen, and the more he thought about that pain, the more blinding the pain became.

 

‘Rick, it’s Miriya. Respond.’

 

“Miriya?”, he said quietly.

 

He heard her issue orders to the Skull.

 

He automatically placed the call to the ship. “Tango…Three to SDF-3…I’ve been hit…injured…unable to return to …ship.”

 

He felt his Alpha jolt a little, and a second later felt a forward momentum. He wasn’t certain what was happening, but part of his brain realized the Skull was moving him.

 

He was woozy and looked down to realize he was losing a lot of blood. He processed that there was no atmosphere leakage, so his injuries were most likely from shrapnel from inside the ship. He applied as much pressure as he could to his wounds.

 

He heard something, something that warmed his heart and made him smile despite his dire situation and the pain.

 

‘Rick, can you hear me? Please Rick, answer me.’

 

Still smiling he looked at the communication screen. It wasn’t there anymore and he realized that it was probably what caused most of his injuries. ‘Of all the things I’ve been through’, he thought sourly, ‘An exploding communication screen is what is going to get me. Go figure.’ Out loud he said, “Lisa.”

 

‘Rick. You’re going to be okay. Do you hear me? Rick? Please hold on, you’re almost home.’

 

The fear in her voice was for him, he realized, and that in turn released a flood of thoughts into his mind. The foremost thought on his mind though, was making sure that Lisa didn’t blame herself for what had happened to him. She needed to be free to go on without the baggage of guilt and remorse. All he ever wanted was for her to be happy. Besides that, this was his fault for a number of reasons.

 

‘I should have talked to her. I should have listened to Max. I shouldn’t have been distracted.’

 

The pain was intense, and in between ragged breaths he spoke to her. “My Lisa…don’t blame…yourself for this. Made my own choice…. I should…have stayed and talked to you…instead of running away. I’m sorry…Lisa…Forgive me.”

 

When she spoke, her voice was shaky and cracking. ‘Rick…stop talking like that. You’re…you’re going to be fine.’ Her voice strengthened and she said, ‘Do you hear me, mister. I’m giving you an order. Hold on! You’re going to be fine. Do you hear me Rick?’

 

He leaned his head back and said quietly, “Not sure I…can follow that order…Lisa.”

 

‘Rick’, she said in desperation.

 

He closed his eyes, and as he felt the darkness approach him he said, “I love you…Lisa. Watch over you…I… promise.”

 

‘Rick, I love you too. Please stay with me. Rick…’

 

It was her declaration of love for him that was the last thing he heard before the darkness finally overtook him.

 

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