Rick dreaded the Monday 10am staff meetings that Admiral Gloval held with his senior staff, he tried to get out of it, but Gloval insisted that he attend as the pilots' representative as Rick was responsible for relaying back any new orders or information to the other squadron leaders when necessary.

Rick didn't usually have much to say at these meetings and hated sitting through Colonel Maistroff's boring updates, which were too long and too preachy about how the RDF should handle the situations that arose. Gloval took them all in good stride but even he got tired of Maistroff's lecturing. Rick got through most of the meeting trying to make Lisa and sometimes Claudia laugh when Maistroff got on his soap box.

Rick watched Lisa as she scribbled something furiously on her tablet as the Colonel was going on and on, and he wondered what she was writing. She always paid attention and her thoughtful insights or recommendations were usually always taken into consideration by the higher ups. Rick was amazed by the attention to detail Lisa put into her work and wondered how she had the time to handle all her responsibilities.

Rick's attention was brought back towards the front of the room, where Dr. Lang stood up and started speaking. Rick liked the doctor and usually found his updates interesting, especially when they had to do with introducing new technology to the Veritech fighters. However, it was a very different subject that Lang brought up today.

"As you know, the last two years have been centered around using our technology to rebuild the planet. Areas that were devastated are starting to show new growth using terraforma techniques we've developed and resources are better managed now that we have a clearer sense of the number of survivors that made it through The Rain. We need to take the next step if our race is to survive. Birth rates have dropped and dwindled in the last year and we need to find a way to encourage procreation as soon as possible. The next couple of years are crucial to this as the average female survivor above the age of 18 is around 29 years old and we need to encourage any woman over the age of 20 to start thinking about starting a family. "

Claudia, opened her mouth to say something, but was stopped by Lang. "Please hear me out. I know that this sounds insane but as the current population ages, there is a gap in the next generation of women of child bearing years. If we do not do something to rectify this now, in 20 years, we may run the risk of having minimal human resources. Another attack by an alien force, well, would mean the end of us."

"Our scientists have worked with Breetai to understand the Zentraedi cloning techniques and how we could apply some of their technology to help us in our efforts. Let me be clear that cloning is not the goal of this endeavor, but can aid us in our future survival. "

Talk broke out all over the table, Rick could see Claudia and Lisa taking about Lang's proposal and he wished that he could hear what they were saying.

Admiral Gloval sat quietly thinking about what Lang had brought up for a few minutes. Finally he asked for quiet in the room and as the furor in the room died down, he asked Dr. Lang to continue and outline his plan.

Dr. Lang cleared his throat and said, "this is not something that I feel we should bring to the attention of the people yet, nor should this plan be used the civilian population. I am suggesting that we test out this plan within the RDF before introducing this to the general populace. With the help off the Zentraedi, we are able to use their technology to help us better decifer the human DNA sequence. Using DNA sequencing and using personality tests, we can recommend or match persons that have high compatibility and would produce offspring that have a higher chance of having characteristics that would be important to our survival."

Claudia couldn't help but interrupt here with some indignation, "you're talking about creating designer babies!?"

"No," interrupted Lang, "we would not interfere with the pregnancy itself, we have no desire to ensure whether the child had brown hair or black or brown or blue eyes. What we want though are intelligent humans with good physical traits. "

Although she said it quietly, everyone in the room heard Lisa when she asked, "and what of the babies that do not meet these requirements? What will become of them?"

"That would be the choice of the mother, as I said before we would not interfere with the pregnancy itself. We would provide prenatal care for the mother and baby and inform the mother of the risks if any develop during the course of the pregnancy. All decisions world be made by the parents. The participants in the program can choose to either meet the candidates and make a selection from those that they have a high degree percentage of compatibility with. Once they have decided to move forward, they can either choose to be artificially inseminated, or try to conceive naturally. We are not asking that these participants be married to one another or that they have any contact with each other after the baby is born. This is not a matchmaking service. If a couple chooses to continue their relationship, of course that would be a happy outcome for all, but the main goal is to try and encourage women of a certain child bearing age range to have one or more children in a short timeframe. "

Lang continued to outline the plan. "After the child's birth, they will continue to receive free medical care and the parents a stipend for their continued care. Our psychological screening will weed out any participant that is not fit to be a parent through this program. If we get the approval to beta this in our organization, I feel that we can work out any concerns before rolling this out to the general population."

Gloval nodded to Lang, allowing the doctor to finally sit. There was still a lot of talk around the other members at the table and Gloval cleared his throat and said, "I think the doctor has given us much to think about. I don't think we are ready to make a decision in this quite yet, but he had given us a lot to consider. We'll reconvene on this next week."

As Gloval dismissed his staff, Rick walked out of the room, eager to talk to Lisa about what they had just heard. It was the most outrageous thing he had ever heard and he thought it was crazy. Rick waited outside of the room, watching the door for his friend and was surprised when Claudia exited without her friend and the boardroom door closed.

"Hey Claudia, where's Lisa?"

Claudia looked at Rick and shook her head a bit. She didn't know what her friend saw in this boy. Sure he was good-looking, having grown a few inches the last few years and filled out. He looked more mature than when they had first met him those three years ago but his unrequited crush on Minmei, and his inability to see that his good friend Lisa was desperately in love with him, made him a hopeless case in her book. She responded to his inquiry, "Gloval asked her to stay back, he had some things he needed to go over her. She might be a while."

Disappointed that he wouldn't get to talk to Lisa and get a cup of coffee with her like they usually did after one of Gloval's meetings, Rick said goodbye to Claudia and headed to the hangar to start his day.