Robotech Macross: "What If...?"
Story 1

Lisa handed a coffee mug to Claudia then checked a few status reports and allowed her a moment's rest to sip her tea.
"Honey, is there something wrong? You've been awfully quiet today," asked Claudia with concern.
Lisa looked at Claudia quickly then looked away and shook her head, "Nothing really..."
Claudia was about to press Lisa for more details when she heard the door swish open and the loud clatter of the Trio returning to their stations from their lunch break.
"Hey Claudia, we saw Roy in the hallway, he said to tell you that he'll be over tonight around 8pm," said Kim, as Sammie and Vanessa giggled.
Claudia held her head up proudly and smiled. Vanessa sat down in front of the large threat board and leaned back in her chair and said dreamily, "You're so lucky Claudia, to have a such a nice, strong, handsome man to share your life with."
Kim and Sammie gave their "Mmmhmmm" in unison. Lisa stared into her cup. Her mind was a jumble of visions of Rick then visions of Karl then she remembered that neither man was with her and didn't share in her life. She had no one to share her life with really and it was a stark, cold, reality that Lisa could hardly bare sometimes. Karl was dead, and Rick... Rick had Minmei and made no attempt to hide that fact from Lisa. So with Miss Macross in Rick's life, what chance was there for Lisa? She knew the answer and didn't even have to think about it, one word said it crystal clear...None. Rick would never leave Minmei, let alone leave her for a woman whom he had called an old lady and whom he fought with a majority of the time they ever spoke to each other. But they had become friends hadn't they? They didn't always fight like they used to. Things were getting better weren't they?
Lisa was only faintly aware of the chattering behind her. Most likely Claudia was telling the Trio about some crazy date that she and Roy had gone on or was telling them of the silly things Roy would do. She's so lucky, Lisa thought to herself. Then there was the Trio, though they were not attached to any particular suitor at the moment, they never lacked for dates and it would only be a matter of time before they too found someone special.
And so the harsh reality hit Lisa between the eyes again, she was alone and would most likely always be alone, destined to rust away and age along with the SDF-1.
"Lisa? Lisa are you alright?" asked Captain Gloval.
Lisa turned around to find everyone staring at her. "What? I'm sorry," she mumbled out of her daze.
"Lisa, Captain Gloval asked you to bring up the report of the scan of sector 17, didn't you hear him?" asked Claudia.
Before Lisa could reply, Captain Gloval waved his hand and said, "It's alright Claudia, there's no rush. Lisa, are you sure you're feeling alright? You may take the rest of the day off if you'd like."
Lisa shook her head, "No Captain, I'm alright. I'm sorry for my distraction. I'll have the scan report for you in just a moment."
The rest of the bridge crew just looked at each other and then returned to their work. In five minutes Lisa was handing the report to Captain Gloval. He looked it over and then looked at Lisa, who still looked like she was bothered by something, and said to her, "Very good. Please take this down to Dr. Lang, I think he might find something very interesting here."
"Yes sir," said Lisa quietly as she headed through the hatch.
Gloval heaved a sigh then fixed his cap. He worried about Lisa. He had progressively seen her lose her concentration and composure and he was sure it had something to do with Rick Hunter. If Lisa didn't get back to her old self soon, for the sake of the ship, Captain Gloval would have to have her replaced. He loved Lisa dearly, as if she were his own daughter, and knew she was the most capable officer onboard, but he needed her to be focused 100% of the time.
"Captain, do you want me to talk to her?" offered Claudia.
"No, not yet. I think you and I should talk about her first and decide what we should do, then we'll approach her. I don't want her distracted more than she already seems to be," replied Gloval as he looked out the viewport.
"Yes sir," said Claudia quietly, returning to her station.
After receiving her expected report from a section chief, Kim leaned over in Sammie's direction and whispered, "Lisa's starting to scare me. I've never seen her like this."
Sammie shook her head, "I know, me too."
Gloval heard some whispering and cleared his throat and looked at Kim and Sammie, who immediately tried to look busy. Gloval knew he had to figure out something soon, he didn't like seeing Lisa in such a depressed mood, let alone the constant subject of gossip. He felt his paternal instincts kick in and felt the need to protect her. He had been witness to several of Lisa's and Admiral Hayes' arguments and knew that things were not well between the father and daughter and it saddened him to see it.

Lisa had delivered the report to Dr. Lang and was on her way back to the bridge. She was in a daze as she walked mechanically back down the hallway, her eyes not really seeing anything. She heard the swish of an elevator door open to her right but kept on walking and bumped into Rick.
"I'm sorry, I-" Lisa mumbled, but then stopped talking when she saw Rick and Roy standing in front of her.
"Hey Lisa, sorry there. Rick has a bad habit of not watching where he's going," said Roy with a laugh as he slapped Rick on the back.
Immediately both men noticed Lisa's downcast and confused demeanor.
"Lisa, are you ok?" asked Roy with brotherly concern.
Rick, not knowing what to do and somewhat taken back by Lisa's sad aura. He swung his head down a bit so he could look her in the eyes and asked, "Lisa...is there something wrong?" Lisa looked at him and saw the sincere concern in his blue eyes. She was hypnotized by them for a few seconds and then remembered that Rick belonged to someone else.
Rick had been looking into Lisa's eyes and realized, perhaps truly for the first time that they were the most brilliant green he had ever seen. He saw a strange look in them, one he had seen often and couldn't understand, but this time the look was so intense that it not only confused him more than usual, but scared him as well. Then he saw the look change into one of complete sadness as Lisa looked away from him.
"I...uhh...I better get back to the bridge, good afternoon gentlemen," said Lisa as she quickly hurried away.
The several seconds of staredown was not lost on Roy and he turned to Rick and saw that he was watching Lisa as she walked away. Claudia had told him about the fact that Lisa was in love with Rick, but Roy had been so busy, and when he did have some free time, he spent it all with Claudia, so he really hadn't gotten a chance to talk to Rick and get a feel for what Rick thought of Lisa. Today he and Rick had been going over flight schedules but all Rick had talked about was Minmei and he was moping again that Roy didn't have the heart to confuse him anymore by bringing up Lisa.
The sight of Lisa's solitary figure gave Rick a strange feeling that he had been having for several months now. Lisa's sad demeanor made him want to see if there was anything he could do to help her. He didn't know why he was so drawn to her sometimes. One day they could fight like cats and dogs and the next day they would be chatting like good friends. The bipolar nature of their relationship drove Rick crazy sometimes. He would either be mad at her and wish he'd never met her or he would be musing upon all of her positive qualities and what it would be like to get to know her better. One thing was sure though, that everytime Lisa showed some vulnerability, Rick had this unshakeable urge to want to take care of her, look out for her. And it wasn't really a brotherly feeling either, it was deeper than that, but everytime Rick started to analyze his feelings for Lisa, he got scared and pushed her out of his mind and turned his attention back to his neverending angst over Minmei.
Roy decided to set Rick up a bit so he exaggerated a sigh and over-woefully stated, "Claudia and I are gonna have to figure out something to do to cheer that girl up soon. She's walking around like a zombie. I dunno what, but we better do something soon, we don't want her too..." and then Roy motioned with his hand, mimicking a drinking motion.
Rick looked at Roy with confusion, "What are you talking about Roy?"
Roy looked all around him then bent down a bit and said in a secretive fashion, "You know, we don't want her to hit the bottle." Roy cleared his throat then straightened up again and looked around him again.
"What?? Lisa?" asked Rick, still confused.
"Shhhhh!!!" said Roy quickly. "I'll tell you something, but you gotta promise not to say a word of it to anyone, alright? Otherwise Claudia will bust my head open, or worse, not let me sleep on her couch anymore."
"I promise I won't tell a soul, you know I'm not a gossip," said Rick seriously.
"I know, and I should hope not or else I'd think you'd been listening to the Trio too much, ah ha ha!" said Roy as he broke into laughter.
Rick gave Roy a that's-not-funny look and Roy became serious again, "Alright, well, this happened right after you rescued her from Mars. Claudia and I were going into Macross City but Claudia had to stop by Lisa's quarters and drop something off, a report I think it was, and we didn't get any answer at the door. So Claudia became a little bit worried because she had called Lisa and Lisa said she was going to be home. Claudia thought Lisa had sounded a bit strange on the phone, so of course when she didn't answer the door, Claudia got a little bit panicked. Claudia knew Lisa's lock combination so she opened the door and when we got inside we found Lisa passed out on the couch with a wine bottle in her hand. We stayed with her until she woke up and Claudia tried to talk to her but Lisa didn't want to tell us why she had gotten drunk. But Claudia suspected it had to do with Mars Base, you know, her fiancee was killed there. Well, you know my Claudia, she got stern with Lisa and threatened that if she ever found Lisa drunk again that she'd kick her ass then turn her into to Captain Gloval for disciplinary action. Now mind you, she was doing this to scare Lisa into sobriety. She wouldn't really rat on Lisa like that. My Claudia's not a snitch," finished Roy, and then he folded his arms and leaned against the wall to see how the story would sink into Rick's mushy brain.
Suddenly, before Rick had had even a few seconds to think about what Roy said, the red alert sounded and Rick and Roy scrambled to their VTs.

Lisa arrived on the bridge running and quickly got on the comm to dispatch the VT squadrons.
"Sir, status report. Wide-range radar shows a group of about 5 enemy destroyers heading our way, about 8 dozen battlepods ahead of them sir," reported Vanessa.
"Alright, Lisa, Claudia, make sure we've got plenty of VTs ready. Sammie, tell the section chiefs there will be no modular transformation back to the lateral, we will stay as is, incase we need to use the Daedelus Attack. Kim, tell the Pinpoint Barrier crew to standby," ordered Gloval, concisely but not frantically.
"Yes sir!" answered the highly-trained women in unison.
After 15 minutes Skull Squardon and Vermillion Squadron were ready to launch. "Skull Leader you are cleared to move to sector 7-D, Vermillion you are to fly close support," said Lisa flatly.
"Hey now waita minute Lisa. It looks like sector 7-G needs some cover over there, why don't you send us over there. I'm sure Roy can take care of himself. As much as I enjoy flying along side my Big Brother, I think Vermillion needs to be where the action is," protested Rick.
Claudia looked over at Lisa and could almost see the steam coming out of her ears, she also heard Lisa's foot tapping, an indication she was trying to keep control of her temper.
"Sector 7-G is going to be covered by Raven Squadron, stay where you are until further orders," bit out Lisa.
Rick shook his head in anger and blanked communications with Lisa, but remained where he was, something that surprised both Roy and Lisa.
Thirty minutes after intense battlepod-to-VT fighting, the Zentraedi destroyers moved into a wedge formation and moved in closer to the SDF-1.
"Pinpoint Barrier online, now!" ordered Gloval.
"Yes, sir. Bridge to Pinpoint Barrier, go live, repeat, this is not a drill, go live," said Kim calmly and professionally.
"Going live now bridge, 5 minutes till maximum operating capacity," reported a Pinpoint Barrier tech.
In his VT, Rick was growing increasingly restless as he saw a flurry of activity in sector 7-G. He got on his comm channel to Roy and said, "Big Brother, I'm taking Vermillion over to 7-G, I think they really need help out there."
Roy chuckled and said, "Fine with me, but I ain't going to be the one to tell Lisa about it, you gotta do that yourself."
Rick switched over to Max and Miriya and said, "Ok Mr. and Mrs. Sterling, we are going to head over to sector 7-G."
"Roger Vermillion Leader," answered both Max and Miriya.
A few minutes after Rick and his squad started heading towards sector 7-G, Lisa came up on Rick's comm channel, very irrate, "Vermillion Leader, what the hell do you think you're doing?!"
"I'm taking my squad to help out in 7-G," replied Rick.
"Negative, you are suppose to stay with Skull Squadron," retorted Lisa.
"Listen Commander Hayes. Haven't we been over this before?? How many times do I have to tell you that you aren't out here and that you can't really get an accurate picture of who needs help where. Just because it looks all fine and dandy on your monitors doesn't mean everything is fine and dandy!" said Rick, pointing an accusing finger at Lisa.
"Is there a problem Commander Hayes," Rick heard Gloval say in the background.
Rick knew that if Lisa told Captain Gloval, there'd be grounds for a reprimand for insubordination. Lisa looked at Rick, grateful that his helmet visor was tinted and she couldn't see his face or his blue eyes. After a few moments of silence she closed her eyes and then said over her shoulder ,"No sir, there is no problem here."
Rick looked at Lisa to show her some type of sign of appreciation but she didn't look at him and shut off the visual communication channel.
"Vermillion Squadron, you may proceed to sector 7-G," said Lisa quietly.

Lisa let her mind wander for a few seconds, she couldn't and wouldn't purposely get Rick in trouble. No matter how annoying and immature he could be, she couldn't do it. She knew that Rick seemed to have a natural leadership talent that could take him far and she didn't want to jeopardize or tarnish that. But why did it matter to her so much? He obviously wouldn't appreciate or even notice it. He noticed nothing except Miss Macross. So Lisa wondered why should she waste her time and reputation to help Rick out? The answer was simple, because she loved him. Why? Because he was the first one brave enough to tell her how he saw her, because he was the only on brave enough to talk back to her, because he made the safety of his subordinates and fellow soldiers and citizens his number one priority, because he could be kind and funny and caring and interesting and because he had the prettiest blue eyes she ever seen and because he was handsome. All these reasons had been torturously preying on her mind ever since Max and Miriya's wedding. Maybe because attending the wedding made her think about what it might've been like if she and Karl had been able to get married, or what it would be like to marry Rick. And while everyone was enjoying the wedding reception, Lisa left the party early to go back to her lonely quarters and lament over what could've been and face her lonliness demons again.
"LISA!" shouted Captain Gloval.
Lisa turned around, wearing yet another confused look. Captain Gloval walked over to her station and said, "Lisa, please help Claudia prepare the main gun, now."
"Yes sir," mumbled Lisa, her face feeling hot with embarrassment.
After Claudia and Lisa reported that the main gun was ready, Gloval looked back at Sammie and said, "Sammie, give me bridge closed-circuit comm. All outgoing or external audio is to be paused."
Sammie did as she was ordered and then Captain Gloval turned towards Kim and said quickly, "After communications resume, tell Lieutenant Robertson to get up here immediately."
Kim looked at Lisa then at Gloval and said meekly, "Yes sir."
Everyone knew that Lt. Robertson was Lisa's backup. Calling her in now meant that Gloval was going to relieve Lisa of her duties.
Gloval looked at Lisa with a sympathetic look and said quietly, "Lisa, please go home and get some rest. We will talk about this tommorrow."
Lisa opened her mouth to protest but no words came out. She saluted and quickly left the bridge.

* * * * * * *

"Khyron you idiot!! What in Dolza's name do you think you are doing?!" barked Azonia as her face appeared on the viewscreen.
"Do not bother me now woman! I am about to destroy the SDF-1!!" exclaimed Khyron.
"Nonesense you fool!! I will destroy your ships myself if I have to. We are NOT to touch the SDF-1 until Dolza gives us further orders. Do not ruin the victory Khyron," warned an impatient Azonia.
Khyron glared at her for awhile then let out a long growl and said, "Grel ! Recall the pods and move the destroyer group back."
Azonia smiled a satisfied smile and said in a somewhat sarcastic tone, "Thank you Khyron."
Before Khyron could reply, Azonia's image disappeared from the screen. Khyron quickly whirled around and said, "Grel?! Did you hear that? She thanked me?!"
"I believe thats what it seems like lord Khyron," answered Grel.
"Impossible..." said Khyron quietly, rubbing his chin. "She is strange I tell you!"
"If you say so sir," replied Grel.
"I have not come in contact before with someone such as her. She nags me then she thanks me? What is that all about?" asked Khyron.
"Sir, perhaps you are thinking about this more than is necessary," offered Grel.
"More than necessary?! What do you mean?" barked Khyron.
"Well, sir, everytime you talk to Lady Azonia you go through the rest of the day talking about her," explained Grel.
"Well she drives me crazy! What am I suppose to do?" said Khyron.
"I don't know sir, just don't think about her, that's all," said Grel.
"Yes yes, Grel you're absolutely right. I don't want that idiot woman taking up my valuable time," said Khyron as he looked at the monitors. "Very well Grel, take us out of here immediately, before Azonia comes back and nags me again."
"Yes sir," replied Grel.
Khyron went to sit in his commander's chair and remained quiet for awhile then mused, "Why does that woman enjoy nagging me?"
Grel looked over at his commander and was about to reply when he decided it would be in vain and turned back to issuing withdrawl orders.

* * * * * * *

"Lieutenant Hunter, please give me a status report," said Lt. Robertson over the comm channel.
Rick was surprised to hear Lt. Robertson and the first thing out of his mouth was, "Where's Lisa?"
Lieutenant Robertson replied, "She's in her quarters...she's not feeling well so I was called in to replace her."
"What? But I was just talking to her a minute ago. What's wrong with her?" asked Rick, still confused as to why Lisa left the bridge.
"Lieutenant Hunter, please give me your status report. I cannot give you any information on Commander Hayes other than what I was told," said Robertson, who was starting to grow impatient.
Rick gave her his status report and after another half hour, the Zentraedi had fallen back completely and the VTs were recalled home.

Rick trotted to catch up with Roy. "Roy, wait up!"
"Sorry Rick, can't join you for dinner tonight, I have myself a date with Claudia. It was postponed for the longest time, now we finally get to go out," said Roy happily.
"Yeah ok Roy, but I just wanna know what happened to Lisa," said Rick with concern.
Roy stopped his quick pace and looked at Rick, "What for?"
"Well, I was just concerned about her that's all. She's my friend," said Rick quietly.
"Friend?? Well the way you two fight, you sure could've fooled me!" said Roy with a laugh.
Rick grew impatient, he was tired and in no mood for wisecracks. "Come on Roy, we don't always fight," said Rick with exasperation.
Roy folded his arms and became more serious, "So, did my little story this afternoon get you thinking about Lisa differently?"
"Well, not really, I mean, not yet, I haven't had a chance to sit down and think about it all yet," said Rick. "But...I just want to know why she didn't rat on me and why she went home sick. You know as well as I do that she's the third most important person on this ship, aside from Gloval and Lang, and there'd be no reason to just relieve her of duty, even if she were sick. She's been sick before and has come into work," reasoned Rick.
Roy knew that Rick had been thinking about the situation just as he had, only Roy had thought out a possible motive that he assumed hadn't even crossed Rick's mind yet, that Lisa had been relieved of duty and not because of medical reasons. Roy didn't want to raise anymore concern from Rick so he patted Rick on the shoulder and said, "Hey, don't worry about it. I'll ask Claudia later on, I'm sure she knows what's going on. Now go into town and relax and have fun, Minmei is suppose to be giving another concert isn't she? Why don't you head over there."
When the name 'Minmei' came up, Rick felt confused more than before. He realized he had forgotten all about the concert. When he woke up in the morning that was all he could think about, but now, after all these strange happenings with Lisa, he actually didn't even feel like going to see Minmei. 'Minmei will understand, heck, she probably won't even know or care if I went or not,' thought Rick. 'Frankly, I wouldn't feel right going out and having a good time knowing that a friend of mine might need my help,' pondered Rick, thinking of Lisa. 'I better go thank her for not ratting on me, and see if she's ok...'

After a ten minutes walk, Rick turned the corner and headed down the corridor that led to the bridge crew quarters. He heard the sound of voices from a room a few feet ahead of him and as he got closer he recognized the voices as the Trio's.
"Hey Kim, I'm kinda nervous about being asked to train as Lisa's backup," said Sammie.
When Rick heard the name 'Lisa' he immediately froze outside the door and waited to see what else was said.
"Don't worry Sam, you'll do fine," said Kim nonchalantly.
"Yeah I know, but I mean, I don't feel right, if I were to be asked to replace Lisa, like Robertson was today," said Sammie in a downcast tone.
"I know Sammie but don't you think Lisa would rather be replaced by a friend than someone who's not a friend? I mean at least she'd know you weren't trying to steal her job on purpose," offered Kim.
"Well, this shouldn't even be an issue in the first place if Lisa would stop spacing out at the most inopportune times," said Vanessa.
"Vanessa! It's not Lisa's fault, go blame that jerk Rick Hunter!" scolded Kim.
Rick felt a cold chill go down his spine, how was any of this his fault?
"Yeah," said Sammie, "I don't know why Lisa covered up for him today, he doesn't deserve it."
Vanessa shook her head, "This is terrible to watch you know. I mean, did you ever in a million years ever think you'd see Captain Gloval relieve Lisa of her duty?"
"Well, you think we feel bad about it, can you imagine what Lisa must be thinking right now?" asked Kim.
Vanessa sighed, "Poor Lisa, I guess the wedding really put her down in the dumps. And she used to be so tough too. But I guess now everything's just too overwhelming for her to keep bottled up inside."
Sammie snapped her fingers and said, "Hey, I have an idea. Why don't we take her out on the town next week?"
Kim perked up and said, "That's a great idea Sammie."
Rick heard some commotion from behind him and quickly started walking on his way, not able to finish listening to the Trio's plans.
Rick was now completely confused. He was about to analyze how he might've been responsible for getting Lisa relieved from her duties but his cellphone rang. He read the caller ID and it said 'Minmei.' Rick let it ring a few more times, wrestling over whether he should answer it or not, and wondering why he was hesitating. Didn't he always jump at the chance to talk to Minmei? So why, now, was he hesitating and worrying about Lisa instead? He didn't know the answer to that question. Rick went ahead and answered the call.
"Hi Rick! This is Minmei!" chirped Minmei.
"Yes, I know it's you Minmei," replied Rick.
Minmei giggled and said, "Oh! Were you waiting for my call?? That was sweet of you. Well, as you know, as everyone knows, I'm having a concert tonight. I've arranged for you to have backstage passes! You can keep me company after the show, since Kyle has to attend a meeting right after the show. He said it's an important contract negotiation and he can't miss it. Please say you'll come Rick, I will be bored if you don't come and keep me company after the show."
Rick was only ten feet from Lisa's door and he was completely torn as to what he should do.
"Please come Rick," asked Minmei again.
Rick sighed and then said, "Alright, I'll come Minmei."
"Oh Rick, you're the best! You better come over now, so that way you can get in before the crowd," said Minmei.
"Ok Minmei, I'll be there in a bit," answered Rick.
Rick walked up to Lisa's door and struggled over whether he should ring or not. If he started talking to Lisa now then he would be late getting to Minmei's concert. On the other hand, he was still worried about Lisa, and what he overheard the Trio saying didn't ease his worries. But if he were the reason why Lisa got relieved from duty then he expected that she would be pretty mad at him, and he didn't want to argue with her and arrive to Minmei's concert in a bad mood. Rick looked at Lisa's door one more time then decided to turn around and head towards Macross City, all the while, a little voice in the back of his mind was telling him he had made the wrong decision.

* * * * * * *

"So did he knock on her door?" asked Claudia as she took a sip of her white wine.
"No, he didn't, he got a phone call, from Minmei possibly, and stared at Lisa's door and left," replied Roy as he finished his up his dinner.
Claudia folded her hands and sat back in her chair and watched Roy pour them another glass of wine, "Well. He got to her door at least, I suppose that's a start," said Claudia.
Roy put down the bottle and stared at his glass as he said, "I suppose... I'm sorry Claudia, I should've encouraged him to go see Lisa instead of Minmei. I was in such a hurry to get to our date that I went on auto-pilot with Rick I guess."
Claudia gave Roy a satisfied smile and said, "Well Mr. Fokker, I'm glad to know at least that I'm the top priority on your list."
Roy winked at Claudia then became a bit more serious and said, "We've been so busy that I really haven't been able to get the chance to talk to Rick about Lisa. Can you imagine that?? No time to do anything. I'm surprised we even have time now for this date."
"Shhh...don't knock on wood, we don't want the red alert to go off," whispered Claudia.
Roy smirked at her as he opened up the dessert menu, "Alright, are you having your usual tonight?"
"Um, no actually, I think I'll have a slice of apple pie," replied Claudia with an expectant look.
"Apple pie?! What on earth made you want to order apple pie?" asked Roy, surprised at Claudia's choice of dessert.
Claudia chuckled and replied, "Well, the Trio had on an oldies station and one of the songs that played was 'American Pie.'"
As expected, Roy broke into a chorus of the song and sang a good one-third of it. Claudia smiled; she expected that Roy would break into song. His carefree nature was one of the many things she loved about him.

"Oh Rick! I'm so glad you could make it! And you dressed up tonight, you look so handsome, thank you for coming!" said Minmei excitedly.
"Uh...sure Minmei, it was my pleasure," answered Rick, a bit uncomfortable with all the stagecrew and entertainment management staff flittering around them as Minmei pulled Rick by the arm towards a private room.
"Miss Minmei, who is this handsome young man, is he your boyfriend?," asked one reporter from behind a nearby media barricade.
Minmei laughed, "Oh no, this handsome man is my good friend, Rick Hunter. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be out later and talk to you but right now I have to catch dinner, I'm starving!" Minmei turned and posed for one more picture then motioned for Rick to follow her.
'Just a friend huh? That's all I ever was and all I ever will be I suppose...' mused Rick as he stuck his hands in his pockets and followed Minmei.
Minmei and Rick spent an hour eating a large Japanese dinner and Rick had hardly been able to get in a word. In between sushi rolls and tempura, Minmei jabbered on about what she was doing and what upcoming projects she had, what Kyle was doing, and what her fans were like. Once she stopped to ask Rick how he was doing but then remembered something she forgot to tell him about her latest single and went on into her little world again, where the only thing that mattered to her was her career and her fans. As the hour wore on Rick grew more resigned to the fact that he was talking to a very self-centered person. He wanted to tell her about the things he had gone through since they last saw each other, but not only would Minmei not bother to take the time to listen, but she would also most likely not understand, nor care, for that matter.
As Minmei rambled on, Rick sighed and tuned out her voice, which had become very annoying after listening to it non-stop for an hour. His mind wandered back to the last civil conversation he had had with Lisa and that was over a cup of coffee in the Officer's Mess. They were deciding what to do with one particularly clumsy VT pilot and they had a few laughs at the pilots expense. Again, it amazed Rick how sharp-witted Lisa could be, on the rare occassion that she loosened up and allowed her humorous and mischievious side to show. She had made some comment about the pilot that was so funny that Rick couldn't stop laughing, and when he did, he was in tears and his stomach hurt from all the laughing he did. He didn't tell her how impressed he was with her humor that day, and now he regretted not telling her. The latest events had been filling Rick with a lot of guilt during the evening he spent with Minmei. I should've at least stopped by quickly to see if Lisa was ok... Rick thought to himself.
"Rick? Rick Hunter are you listening to me?" asked Minmei.
"Huh?? Oh yes Minmei, of course," answered Rick cheerfully, trying to hide the fact that he was lying.
Minmei giggled, "Oh you silly boy, well, anyways as I was saying...."

* * * * * * *
Lisa stared up at the ceiling blankly. She was lying down on her couch, still in her uniform. She had been relieved of duty, and she had no one to blame but herself. 'Dammit Lisa, why can't you concentrate, you used to be as tough as steal. But now...look at you...what would your father say if he found out...' Lisa berated herself in her thoughts, her voice angry and ashamed at her failure to be the best. But then another voice inside her mind fought back, 'But don't I deserve some happiness too?? Why does it always have to be work work work. It's so lonely, there's only so much isolation I can take...'
Lisa got up slowly and went to the bathroom to shower and change. After she was finished she sat down on her bed and stared out the viewport. A song started playing in her head, one she played often in her mind when she was feeling in a particularly self-injuring mood...

Time,
Won't ease my memory,
It's killing me now.
And Lord, how I need him here,
Just to feel him near,
And hear him breathing.

Still,
The night goes on and on,
Another lonely song, I'm singing.
Lord, don't think bad of me,
Don't get mad at me,
You know I'm weak.

And it couldn't cause a whole lot of harm,
To be in somebody's arms....
(1)

Lisa stood up and paced around the room angrily and said, "This has got to stop, some way some how, I can't go on like this much longer."

* * * * * * *

The next day...

Captain Gloval lit his pipe then turned to Lisa and Claudia and said, "Lisa, I want to give you the benefit of the doubt, but I think it would be best if you take some time off."
"Sir, I'm very sorry. Please give me another chance. I really have nothing else to do if I don't have work," replied Lisa, her hands folded.
"That's the problem Lisa. You need to find something else to do besides work," said Claudia quietly.
"I think Claudia is right Lisa. Perhaps work is putting a strain on you, you should consider taking some time off to relax a bit," offered Gloval.
"But we are still in daily combat with the Zentraedi, you need me on the bridge sir," replied Lisa, feeling a bit of panic seize her.
"I need you at 100 percent Lisa, I can't have you spacing out at the worst times," said Gloval as he stood up to look out of the window.
Claudia put her arm on Lisa's shoulder but Lisa moved away. Claudia was surprised but continued with what she was going to say, "Lisa, please take our suggestion. It's for your own good as well as the ships."
Lisa looked at Claudia with horror and ask, "You mean, you think I'm a danger to the ship?!"
Gloval turned around and tried to calm Lisa down, "Lisa, please try and see it from our perspective-"
Gloval's comm toned and he answered it to hear, "Captain sir, this is Vanessa. Sir, I think you should get up right away. We've got another attack force similar to yesterdays headed fast and furious towards us. I'm ready to sound Red Alert on your command sir."
Gloval looked out a different window than the one he was starting out of earlier and saw the lights in the distance. "Go ahead, go to Red Alert," he replied and then turned to Lisa and Claudia and said, "Alright Lisa, this is your chance to show me you're able to work like you used to." Lisa nodded and quickly headed towards the bridge.

Lisa hesitated before giving Vermillion squadron their takeoff orders. After she finally gave them, Rick came onscreen and said, "Lisa, are you alright? Why did you leave the bridge yesterday?"
Lisa took a deep breath, knowing that Gloval was watching her and Claudia was listening nearby. "Lieutenant Hunter...I'm fine. Thank you for your concern but I can't chit-chat now, please proceed to sector 19," said Lisa, a little bit more irrately than she should have.
Rick, having spent half the night worry about Lisa and half the night lamenting over Minmei having said that he was just a friend, let his tiredness from his insomnia get the better of him and bit out, "Jeez, I was just trying to be nice and ask how you were doing. Fine! Next time I'm not going to ask."
Rick switched off communication and took his squad to their assigned sector.
Lisa took a deep breath, trying to control her frustration. Claudia leaned over and said, "Just forget about it now. Concentrate, or you'll be packing for your vacation."
Lisa looked over and gave her an appreciative nod. She knew that, blunt as she was, Claudia always had the best intentions and was looking out for Lisa.

The fighting was intense for about 3 hours. VT squads came back and forth to the carrier decks for rearmament and refueling. Gloval sat in his chair and wondered what the enemy could be planning. He rubbed his chin and then mused, "I wonder why their battleships have not fired on us yet. It's as if they just want to tire out our pilots."
"Sir! Another battlegroup has just defolded behind the first one," said Vanessa.
Gloval got up to look at her board. There was indeed a new battlegroup and he had Vanessa zoom in.
"Sir, I don't believe we have seen that class of ship before sir," said Vanessa as he stared at her giant monitor.
Kim punched up some commands on her terminal and reported, "There's no identification for that ship sir."
Sammie turned around to look at Vanessa's board and gave a confused look, saying, "Those ships are awfully small compared to the usual Zentraedi vessels."
"Small can be dangerous," said Claudia quietly.
"Claudia, Lisa, how are the VTs and destroids holding out?" asked Gloval.
"It appers the enemy groups are retreating sir," answered Claudia.
"Should we issue the orders to pursue Captain?" asked Lisa, seemingly performing at maximum efficiency.
"Have them stand down, I'm sure they are all exhausted. But keep some squads up to patrol, just incase they decide to come back," ordered Gloval.

"What do you mean we have to stay out?? I need to get my squad back to the ship to refuel," protested Rick.
Lisa let out a tired sigh, "Lieutenant, you have plenty of fuel for one patrol."
"What if the pod groups come back? I am not willing to risk my team being stuck out here with low fuel. You should know by now that I always take my team in when we are half empty. I don't take chances with my squad," said Rick. He was drop dead exhausted and in no mood to have yet another argument with Lisa.
"Sir, I think we should be ok with what we have now," said Max politely.
"Nothing doing Max, you know my policy. Now Lisa, give us the go ahead to come back," ordered Rick.
"Sir! Battleship group and that new group is moving in Captain," reported Vanessa.
"Sammie, tell all section chiefs to be on high alert, Kim, make sure Pinpoint Barrier is standing by," said Gloval.
"Negative Rick, stay where you are," said Lisa as she checked Vanessa's monitor.
Rick saw the ships moving in and noticed the new group which had ships he'd never seen before. "Uh...Lisa, what kind of ships are those?"
"We don't know yet, we're still trying to get some type of ID on them," reported Lisa distractedly, as she tried to get an overview of where all the squads were with reference to the incoming ships. Lisa overheard Miriya on the channel briefly and quickly turned around, "Captain! Miriya Sterling! Do you think she'll be able to identify those ships?"
Gloval took off his cap and rubbed the sweat from his forehead, "Why on earth didn't I think of that? Vanessa send her all you can and see if she can identify the ships."
After sending the schematics over to Miriya's computer, Vanessa waited nervously for Miriya's answer.
"Captain...Captain!! Those are multi-channel jammers!" said Miriya, going from a whisper to a panic.
"What does that mean?" asked Gloval, his heart racing at the sound of Miriya's panic.
Before Miriya could answer, Vanessa shouted, "Captain! High energy coming from those ships!" Two seconds after that the bridge was illuminated by an eerie blue light from the dozens of beams that were heading directly towards the ship.
"Pinpoint Barrier!" shouted Gloval.
Silence fell over the ship as the light from the beams disappeared. Gloval looked around at his crew. There were no explosions of any type and from briefly glancing at Sammie's and Kim's monitors, all sectors of the ship were still intact.
"Sir! Pinpoint Barrier offline!" shouted Kim.
Gloval ran to Kim's station to take a look only to hear Vanessa behind him, "Sir! Battleship group closing in fast!"
Lisa got on her channel to check on the VTs, "All squad leaders report!"
"Sir! Another battlegroup is defolding!" shouted Vanessa.

"Khyron!!!!!!" screamed Azonia. "Stop it this instant!"
"No!!!!! Idiot woman leave me alone!! I have the SDF-1 where I want it!! Behold, as I am about to destory it!" shouted Khyron.
Azonia motioned to someone on her left and in a few seconds Khyron got reports that half of his ships had been fired upon by Azonia's group.

"Captain! The new battlegroup has just fired upon the old battlegroup and has also wiped out the jammer group!" relayed Vanessa with relieved confusion.
Gloval stood behind her and couldn't believe what he saw, "Are they having some kind of civil war? They had us right in their grip. Keep trying to get the Pinpoint Barrier back online, we don't want to take any chances." Gloval watched as Khyron's battlegroup was whittled down to just two ships.

Khyron fumed and began pounding his fist into the console he was standing in front of. He knew he could do nothing but retreat, lest he face death at the hands of Azonia, and that would be humiliating for him. He thought about firing on her ship, nothing would give him more pleasure, but he knew he would be exiled to some distant galaxy where there was nothing to destroy but asteroids. That was worse than death for him, so he turned around and issued his orders to retreat, after one more action...

"Look, they're retreating, so what's the harm in coming in to refuel now?" asked Rick.
Lisa closed her eyes and shook her head, wishing that Max or Miriya were squadron leader instead of Rick.
"Alright, fine! We'll stay out here but tell me how much fuel capacity my squad has. That way, the next time we have this problem, you can do the math yourself, since you don't believe me," grated Rick.
"Is this really necessary?" moaned Lisa.
"I'm just asking you a simple question?? Is that too much to ask?" said Rick, now starting to irritate everyone else on the bridge.
"You can hold 250 gallons," answered Lisa.
"Wrrrrong," retorted Rick. "We are in the new modified VTs, in case you've forgotten. I suggest you go look it up in the manual, since you don't know."
"Those modifieds hold 300 gallons," replied Lisa.
"No, wrong again. Are you sure you know what you're doing?" said Rick.
Lisa went livid, she sat in on the design process of those fighters and knew they held 300 gallons. She stamped over to the front of the bridge, where the technical manuals were, determined to put Rick Hunter back in his place.

"Grel!! Fire now!" shouted Khryon.

"Captain!!!!!" yelled Vanessa. At the sound of the extreme panic in her voice, both Claudia and Gloval hurried over to stand behind Vanessa and look at what she was so panicked about.

"Damn, jerk!" mumbled Lisa to herself as she was rummaging around the bookshelf, obviously not noticing Vanessa's yell of distress. "How on earth does he think he can get away with being such an a---hole!"

Claudia and Gloval and Vanessa all stared at the monitor, temporarily frozen in their place, then through the speakerphone came the panicked voice from the Pinpoint Barrier room, "Bridge!! Pinpoint Barrier still inoperative, GET OUT OF THERE!"
Sammie glanced at Vanessa's screened and her mouth dropped open but she couldn't scream, thankfully though she managed to get her legs moving and headed towards the door. Kim stumbled out of her seat after her, Gloval grabbed Vanessa's arm and followed, trying to push Kim through the door.

"CLAUDIA!! GET OUT OF THERE!!" yelled Roy. From his seat in his VT he could see the beam was heading straight for the bridge.

Lisa looked up and saw a blinding light coming straight at her...

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to be continued.....

This will be a short story that leaves the ending wide-open and I invite and encourage people to write their own conclusions :)

Songs:
(1) Tammy Wynette - "Another Lonely Song"

to anyone and everyone PLEASE UPDATE/WRITE YOUR STORIES!! I NEED MORE RICK-LISA / HIKARU-MISA STUFF TO READ!! :)
thanks!
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Boy, it feels strange writing a fanfic with Roy in it, but....
WELCOME BACK OLD BUDDY!!! how many people besides me miss good old Roy Fokker?? :) This Roy is a mix of the Macross Roy, who was more boisterous, and the more low-keyed Robotech Roy. Hopefully as the story progresses, I can get a hang of writing Roy's character, so please bear with me, I have no practice writing Roy!

And, yes yes, I know, I tend to be stuck on the notion that Lisa has a bad time with alcohol, but this is the only time when it will be an issue in this story.

I think that we never really got to see how Khyron and Azonia finally got together. They hated each other and fought like cats and dogs and then ended up together, but we never really saw it develop, so I thought I'd write a little bit on it. They remind me of how Rick and Lisa started out, always at each others throats. LOL!