fanfic_name = What If

chapter = Chapter XVI

author = Knights Templar

Rating = AP15

Type = Adventure

fanfic = What If

Disclaimer: Robotech isn't mine, it is owned by Harmony Gold, and this is for pure entertainment purposes I intend to make no money at all.

A/N: Well, here is chapter 16, an if anyone finds any of this hard to believe just remember that all human efforts are being backed up by Zentraedi muscle and technology that is light years ahead of anything previously within human hands. I don't know how much romance I will get into these chapters, but there will be the romance between Rick and Lisa.

Rick walked confidently and quickly down the corridors of the massive Mars Base that had been recently completed. Rick couldn't help but let a smirk cross his face, it had been his idea to build this base and now it was finally done.

He stopped in front of his quarters that he shared with Lisa and opened the door and heard the squeal of children and he smiled as his son and daughter ran to him and gave him a big hug. Nothing made his day better than coming home to his two little children.

Rick squatted down to their level and smiled and looked at them, they looked almost the same; they were twins much to Rick and Lisa's surprise. Rick looked at Mitchell and then at Carrie, he grabbed them up in his arms and swung them around.

Lisa walked over to Rick and kissed him and took Carrie from him and set her down and looked up at Rick, "Guess what she did today?" Lisa said in a cooing voice. Rick laughed and Carrie let out a loud high-pitched squeal of delight, "Dada," she said and Rick stopped laughing.

Rick scooped Carrie and ran around with her in his arms and Lisa stood there watching Rick play with their children and she couldn't help but suppress a smile. Everytime she thought of the day he proposed she couldn't help but laugh.

[Flashback]

Lisa waddled away from Rick in anger, she was almost eight months pregnant and he was out drinking with his buddies and she was at home miserable. She went and sat down on the couch and crossed her arms and looked at Rick with a pouty face.

Rick stood in the doorway looking at her and he felt himself growing angry because she had been bitching for weeks and he went out once and she jumped all over him. He rolled his eyes and Lisa say the gesture. Her eyes flared with anger.

"You know what Rick, I thought you would be a little more supportive of me, I mean these are you children too," Lisa said in an almost growl.

Rick unfolded his arms and took a few steps forward, "Lisa, all you have been doing for the last few weeks is bitch and moan, and I go out once and you jump all over me."

Rick had forgotten to close the door and Max and Jacob had happened by the couple in another argument and while Max wanted to keep moving Jacob wanted to stay and hear more, "No I want to hear who wins," Jacob insisted.

Max poked his head around the frame of the door and saw the two arguing and he looked up to see Jacob with a smile on his face and all Max could do was roll his eyes. Max gave a tug on Jacob's sleeve but Jacob shrugged him off and Max not wanting to go by himself stood there with him.

Rick moved to Lisa, the both of them having said what they wanted and got down on one knee and looked at Lisa and grabbed one of her hands. He looked at Lisa and she could clearly see that he was trying his very best to be understanding and she had to admit he was being very patient and she couldn't fault him for wanting to get out once and awhile.

Jacob felt another presence next to him and looked to see his dad next him and he smiled, he and his father had gotten over a lot of their problems and seemed to be on what some would call a best friend relationship, Jacob was just glad to have his father accept him.

Rick looked at Lisa and his right hand moved to his pocket while his left still kept Lisa's hand firmly clenched. He patted his pocket and his expression changed from a important intimate moment to a panicked face and he shot up and ran to their room and started to throw clothes out of his drawers.

Lisa staggered in and saw him sit back with a sigh and a little velvet box in his hand and his eyes closed firmly and Lisa, thought having expecting this for a long time, still felt her breath catch in her throat.

Rick looked up and saw that the ring was in his hand and Lisa gave a flying leap on Rick and let out a loud, "YEEESSSS!" Everyone outside the door gave out a loud whoop and started to laugh and walk off down the hall.

Rick and Lisa came out of their room with flabbergasted looks on their faces and exchanged puzzled looks and walked back into their quarters and began to plan the rest of their lives together.

[End Flashback]

Lisa smiled again, it had been the most unorthodox marriage proposal she had ever seen, but they had been happy for the last two years since the anti-fold generators had been activated and provided a virtual shield for the first four planets and since she had been pregnant.

A young officer knocked on their door and Rick went to open the door with Mitchell on his shoulders and saw her standing there, slightly breathless, "Sir, Ma'am, Captain Gloval wishes to see the both of you in his office immediately," she said still winded. Rick walked next door and knocked on their neighbor's door who opened it and Rick quickly explained the situation, she nodded her head, she had done this before. Rick handed Mitchell and Lisa handed her Carrie and they both made for Captain Gloval's office.

Karl sat in a dark room, lit only by a single light bulb. He looked around at his handy work; he and his terrorists had just wiped out a command position of evil military people.

Karl felt an arm slip around his waist and he turned back slightly and saw a blonde mass of curly hair and a soft face that had been hardened by a long spell in a mental institution and also by the sport of killing, killing for the pure pleasure of it.

Karl turned and pulled the woman close and kissed her squarely in the mouth and held her there, not bothering to hide himself from the prying eyes of those men around him, some even yelling out catcalls.

Karl pulled away and brought the woman close to him roughly and started to let his hands roam and he stopped when he saw that she was moaning and enjoying herself, he pulled back from her and looked around at the dead soldiers and smiled.

"Soon," he said in a dark tone looking around at all those around him and seeing the crazily maniacal grins on the faces of those around him he pulled out a knife and stabbed it further into a already dead officer, "we will make out move on the biggest evil of all, the damn SDF-1."

Karl broke out in crazed laughter, those around him also broke out in a crazed evil laugh that would have sent shiver down the spines of anyone left alive, or sane in that room.

Jacob paced inside the Mars Base, he had watched the whole thing start, and now he was going to watch the whole project finish. Jacob couldn't help but smile, Mars Base wasn't only an external facility, but also a huge production facility had been constructed under most of Mars powered by the protoculture matrix.

He knew that this was going to be huge for the RDF, not only had they captured the Satellite Factory, but they had, in two years, managed to turn the planet of Mars in a huge industrial complex that was able put out over one hundred destroyers a day, and could put out an SDF class vessel in a matter of days with only about fifty percent of the facilities production focused on that.

Jacob smiled, but he knew in the back of his mind that they would never be able to stand up to the five million vessels that the Grand Fleet possessed even with the million that they had already from the Zentraedi and the almost ten thousand they had from there own production, for long anyway.

It had been a long time in coming for the Earth. They had witnessed the death and destruction of the Global Civil War and the appearance of the SDF-1, then the attacks by the Zentraedi, and now they knew that if they didn't put all their efforts into producing all they could they would never be able to stand up the Zentraedi hordes for long.

The Zentraedi couldn't jump right to Earth, the anti-fold shield would make sure of that, but they could come in under regular power, but they would have to go right through the defensive hornet's nest that the Humans and Zentraedi had turned the asteroid belt into.

Jacob knew that the time was coming for the Zentraedi to send out a recon force, it had been to long since they had heard from the Satellite Factory or from Breetai. He just hoped that the Mars Base/Factory would be able to put out as many vessels as they could before the Zentraedi arrived.

There had been the problem of resources. The same asteroids that were to serve as the defensive burs had been used for the production of ships. That had been solved months ago when Exedore and Lang had finalized the plans for a enormous fabricator that could take care of all the needs of the Mars Base/Factory.

That left the issue of what to do with the Satellite Factory, which was soon answered by Admiral Hayes himself, it could be used as an enormous colonization vessel. An why not, it could easily hold up to five million humans with enough supplies and equipment to start a new planet.

Jacob didn't like the idea, it looked defeatist, it made it look as if there was no way to win and that Earth was doomed to die along with all the inhabitants. It was necessary to ensure the survival of the human species.

A Lieutenant walked up to Jacob and saluted him, "Sir, Captain Gloval wishes to see you in his office sir," the young man said to him.

Jacob returned the salute and gave the young man a curt nod and walked off the Captain Gloval's office on base. He walked up to the secretary and she buzzed in and told Gloval that he was here and he told her to let him in and Jacob walked in to see Rick, Lisa, Admiral Hayes, Max, Roy, and Gloval himself.

"Why do I have a feeling that this isn't a happy call," Jacob said as he closed the door behind him and walked over to a spot where he could stand.

Henry looked up and made a resigned facial expression and nodded, "You are correct Lt. Commander Evers, this isn't a happy call, this is a very serious one. I am afraid that the Grand Fleet has found out about Breetai and the Factory."

Some gasped, though that had all expected this, none wanted to hear it. Henry continued, "Thought what they don't know is that we have a system that can hold up indefinitely because its power source is the sun, they also don't know that we have close to ten thousand battle ready ship and thousands and thousands of fighters."

Henry stopped for a minute and looked at the people around him, "We cannot match them in large ships, but we can close the gap to about four-to-one in fighters and melee ships and fighters."

Jacob rolled his eyes, that was hardly and consolation. He knew that the Earth would never be able to compete with the numbers that the Zentraedi had, but they could go for quality and wear them down with technological superiority.

"Breetai has informed me that Dolza will most likely take all of his fleet and move it here to attack Breetai and destroy the Earth. Our best hope and chance is to strengthen the Asteroid Belt Defenses and create more SDF type classes. Other than that we can only hope that we can buy the Satellite Factory enough time to jump away."

A thick blanket of silence fell over everyone in the room as they all took in the information. They knew the truth to the words that Gloval had just spoken and they could only hope to allow the Satellite Colony/Factory enough time to be jumped to a safe quadrant far away from the Zentraedi.

Gloval looked up held his gaze over Jacob, "I want you to take command of the Second Quadrant Defensive Area," Gloval knew what this meant, and he knew Jacob did too. This were the hammer was going to fall heaviest, since this is where the Satellite Factory was hanging in space preparing for jump, and he wanted his best pilots there, 'The ones without families anyway, the ones who know and accept the risks and don't have a family to go back to,' Gloval thought.

Gloval stood up and looked at all those around him, "All of you go back and get some rest, because a few of you are shipping out to new posts and others are returning to Earth. Dismissed!" Everyone saluted and turned to leave the room.

The door closed and the last of them had left and Henry looked over to his friend, Donald still sitting in the corner chair. "What do you think? Do you think we have a chance, do you think it is possible for us to hold them off long enough?" Henry asked not looking at Donald.

Donald nodded his head and stood up, "I do think it is possible, Breetai has told me that the Zentraedi have never fought in a debris field the size of the Asteroid Belt, and with as well fortified as we have it, with the cross firing and the huge cannons and hundred of thousands of fighters and mines and such, even the worst projections have them sustaining at least fifty thousand ships destroyed in a major breech, an we can just bottle that up with our forces."

Henry nodded his head; he too had seen these projections. At the worst fifty thousand ships could be destroyed, but at best, maybe half a million. He didn't know how it would be possible to destroy so many ships, but the Zentraedi assured him that the defenses that they had put up were indeed very strong.

"Donald," Henry began again, "do you think it was a good idea to send Jacob to Second Quadrant Defensive Area?" Donald sat down again, this time with a drink in his hand.

"Yeah, I do think it was a good idea, he is a good pilot, I don't know how responsible he will be, but he will make the Zentraedi pay for every bit of space, it's in his blood." Henry raised an eyebrow towards Donald.

"Well, may god have mercy on all those who will die in this horrid war," Gloval said simply.

A/N: Hey, another chapter, my internet has been finicky so it took a bit longer. Anyway R&R.

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