Chapter 4
March 11, 2009, Between Saturn and Jupiter
"And while the battle was possibly a cause of the retroboosters' imbalance, I must express serious doubts, as this officer used said system during the Battle of Saturn and had first-hand visual confirmation of their proper functioning parameters. That the primary and secondary failsafe never took over the supposed damaged circuitry is certainly cause for suspicion. It is the hope of this officer that the Investigation Section find a noteworthy reason as for this failure."
Thank you,
Alexander Lenardais
Lt.Cmdr, SDF-1
The commander of Indigo Squadron reread his report quickly. Finding no obvious faults to it, he had it sent to the administration department of the ship. He truly hoped that the investigation would find something interesting or at least something better than pilot error. He snorted. I'm the first to know I can make mistakes, he thought somberly, but I'm also the first to know I don't make those kinds of mistakes. Of course the pilots - especially the veteran pilots - didn't believe that he could either, and blamed the machine for it. As for the Line officers...well, most of them agreed, but a few others thought he might be the problem. Lenardais dwelled on that only briefly, then shrugged. He still had the full confidence of the pilots, and that was what counted to him.
He rose from his chair and paced the room for a while, trying to decide how he could spend the evening. Maybe he'd just go and take a walk throught the parks, or go chat with some of the on-duty pilots back at the hangars. Perhaps, even better, he could get there and call the bridge so he could do a little flying...
"I'm missing something here." he mumbled. "Why does thinking of the bridge...?" Then he remembered. Looked at his watch. And cursed in irritation and dismay. DAMN! Vanessa! The date! How could I forget the date?!? Of course the fact that he had been in battle - and almost been killed in relation to it - did not seem to him a very good excuse. However, he knew he still had twenty-five minutes: enought time to change into something a little more suitable than uniform underwear and run for his life in the hopes of arriving to the meeting place he had blurted out when he had stupidly invited her on impulse. In ten minutes he had shaved, brushed his teeth and jumped into a nice civilian attire: black pants, pale blue shirt and dark brown jacket. He then zoomed off his quarters and rushed off, his inner voice teasing him about his habits of getting himself into those kinds of ridiculous jams. He squashed it quickly before he laughed. After all, a Squadron Commander running throught corridors and parts of the city laughing might get him into worse trouble than he already could be putting himself into and not to maention give him a hell of a bad reputation.
He was physically fit, for piloting was demanding, and piloting a veritech even more so. Thought he wasn't an addict in exercices, he still practiced his karate in the training complex and performed the necessary exercises demanded by the rules of the RDF Veritech Division. So he reached the site - the front of the reconstructed City Hall. He slowed to a hurried pace, and slowed again to walking when he was surprised to find not only Vanessa Leeds waiting but also Roy Fokker and his girlfriend, third-in-command Claudia Grant. This discovery made him skid to a stop. No way were they going to see him trying to catch his breath! He took to the shade given from the side of the building and recuperated for a moment. The trio hadn't noticed him, at least. They were still chatting casually and amiably. From time to time, however, Vanessa would look at her watch then cast her gaze around, seemingly worried. And each time Roy said something that seemed reassuring. Of course, Alex couldn't know what they were talking about, but he fancied that the slim bridge lieutenant was worried about him not showing up. That thought was awfully nice...even if it was only a fancy. Guess I ought to show up then.
He left the side of the building and swiftly walked across the street. Claudia spotted him first and indicated him to the others. Thought they both were smiling when they saw him, he saw a look of relief flicker in the eyes of Roy and Vanessa. Thought I wasn't gonna show up, huh? he reflected ruefully. Good thing I did, if only to spite you.
"Hey Al! So, decided to show up, pal?" inquired Roy as he came close. The two friends shook hands.
"Of course I'd show up. Wouldn't want to give you the satisfaction of hearing otherwise!!" Alex mocked. They all laughed at the small friendly tease. During that time, the smaller pilot looked at his date more closely. He found her stunning in a dark blue blouse and a long black skirt, both doing nothing to downsize her lithe body and long, athletic legs. Her face showed open eagerness, curiosity and - or so he fancied - a bit of shyness. Which was less than he, who felt so stiff with dread he almost felt like going to an hangar and beg a pilot to let him do his patrol. As it was, only the presence of Roy and the pride that had held him together in the darkest hours of his life forced him to stay. Not that he minded dating a girl as bright and as beautiful as Vanessa Leeds. Far from it. But chronic fear was something that one didn't get rid of easily. The added female presence of Claudia only exacerbated his feelings of fear. As such, he clamped his emotional shield around him and tried to only let positive feelings seep throught it. So far, it seemed to be working.
"Well, now that we're all here, I propose we all go and get something to eat. Any takers?" This said by Claudia, who looked at the two bickering men - and especially Roy - with an indulgent and fond smile. The two men stared at each other for a second, a second in which, mock-threats, jokes and friendly teases passed at light speed between them. A second only, and they looked away with almost childish smiles. At that very moment, one would have been baffled to know they were hardened, ace veritech pilots. Claudia looked at them with an amused and exasperated expression, fairly throwing up her hands and catching hold of Roy's arm. The tall pilot chuckled and put his arm around the african woman's shoulder. He motioned for Alex and Vanessa to follow. As they walked away from them, the young commander felt a fluttering in his chest and something cold clamp down his stomach. Inwardly cursing himself, he ignored both feelings and smiled at his date, bowing slightly as his arm indicated the departing duo.
"Well, shall we go, m'lady?" he said, mimicking the clipped, polite ways of men of England. The brunette hesitated, then smiled back, althought a trifle uncomfortably. He thought he knew why. But at least she smiled.
"Yeah. Lets." She said. He extended his hand, and she took it. Still somewhat wary underneath. Still unsure of him. He didn't blame her. He had been a complete, thoroughly illogical jerk, and it was normal he'd get to pay for it. He wanted to make it certain that he was sorry, that this was caused by the stress of being timed-displaced and compounded by being revisited with an old but great pain. More than that, he wanted to say this would never happen again, that he'd never willingly hurt her.
But he wouldn't, couldn't do it. He knew the words he had to say, when to say them, but couldn't get past the wall of guilt he had put around himself over the incident. He had always been like this. When he felt guilty about something, he let it rankle until it hurt him far more than necessary. Some sort of twisted idea of atonement? Perhaps. And for all the people who had tried to push him out of this funk, he had never let go of that particular unhealthy habit.
They strolled leisurely, all four of them, chatting happily to each other, until they reached the restaurant. This was, so far, the only civilian restaurant available in Macross City, althought others would be opened within days. Being in space and constantly harrassed by enemy ships, entertainment was fast becoming paramount, as the civilians tried to live out their lives as normally as possible and as the soldiers tried to leave the stress of the ship behind. Of course, there where places where the military officers gathered for casual get-togethers, but it was decided silently that these weren't exactly good places for dating. So they had made a logical, and again silent, choice.
The restaurant itself was a well-kept place, definitely asian in nature with tapestries and carved corean wooden plates on the walls. The common room wasn't full - they were in the early evening, after the main rush- but here and there where seated people and couples, some with children, enought to put a very comfortable mood about the place. Nice smells of food wafted from the kitchen where a short, round cheerful man was working. Claudia commented that this really seemed a fine place, and the others assented freely. After a moments wait they were taken by a young waitress to a table. As they sat, Alex wondered about the girl, feeling he knew her somewhat. He wracked his brain for a possible answer without his main organ giving anything other than that feeling. Such it was that he only caught up with the last words of Roy's sentence.
"...went okay, huh?"
He glanced at Roy, confused. "Sorry, didn't get that. What did you just say?"
"I said: "Taking the circumstances, I guess the battle went okay?""
Alex shrugged. "Well, yeah, I guess. We held up pretty good. We lost a lot of people, thought. But then, we could only expect it. I heard we lost Hemmings and Siroix." His tone was somber: he had known these commanders a long time, even thought they weren't friends.
Roy nodded soberly. "Yeah, we did. Along with nearly two-thirds of of fighter forces and a fourth of our destroids. Including the few deaths onboard ship during the attack, we can say that its a tragedy without exagerating."
"Could be worse." said Vanessa. "We could be all dead right now."
"There's that." admitted Alex. "But its not much better knowing each victory is hollow."
"At least we made it all in one piece." Claudia observed, indicating herself and her three companions. Alex opened his mouth to speak and comment on that, but closed it as the waitress who had led them to the table came near them again to take their orders. The young commander observed her again, trying to remember who she was. Young, much younger than he was, pretty cute, blueish-black hair, high but not unpleasant voice. Naivete almost stamped on her forehead. Yes, it doubtlessly fit someone he had either met or heard about recently. But who?
The answer to the question came abdruptly and quickly, however, as the girl caught sight of Roy. Her small but sincere smile widened and her eyes brightened slightly.
"Hello, Commander Fokker! How are you?"
"Ho, hi there Minmay!" exclaimed Roy. "Didn't know it was you serving us. I'm fine, thanks. And you? Pretty as ever?"
Minmay blushed at the remark, giggling girlishly. Alex decided that this girl deserved the 'naive' mark he had mentally stamped on her, to react to such a transparent comment. Yet he might as well stamp the word 'forgetful' on himself. All this time and all the talks that he had had with his old friend, all the times he had described Rick and Minmay and yet he hadn't clicked. Boy, did he feel like a loser! He shrugged off these unsavory thoughts and rejoined the outside world.
He ordered some light food- fish and rice - with a chicken-flavored asian soup, then waited until everyone had taken their orders before speaking again.
"Hey, I forgot to ask, how did Rick take his first fight?"
The veritech commander sighed. "Well, not too badly, given the circumstances. Nearly got shot a few times. Went as far as finding himself inside the enemy ship. Froze when he saw a giant man right in front of him. Got himself out right before the explosion. All in all, given he's not catatonic, I'd say he handled it well."
Alex, Vanessa and Claudia all felt a bit breathless after this verbal outing. Vanessa was the first to recover.
"Then he's just the type of pilot we need." she turned to Alex. "And you, commander Lenardais? How was your command?" she said it with an itsy-bitsy point of irony that tugged at his combativity, but he chose to ignore it and answered that all his pilots, even Gendorskly, had done rather well.
"Althought I almost had to restrain Galger when he went hunting for commander Hayes to teach her 'moderation'. He was ready to take off after her after he saw me at..." his relaxed demeanor faded, as did his smile. Silence clamped down on the group as the man struggled with his emotions for a moment. He coughed then went on. "my crash. he finished softly and lamely."
Roy went somber at that, also thinking about the crash. "It was a close call, Al. If you hadn't used the battloid mode..." he stopped when he realized what he was saying, flushed and started again. "Problem is, it shouldn't have happened. Ever." Claudia and Alex both nodded in agreement, but Vanessa looked clueless, and asked why it could never happen. Claudia explained it to her.
"A veritech fighter is built to be a safe fighting craft, even should an emergency occur. Because of that, there are two back-up circuits on each systems, including all the boosters. To have the principal circuit and both back-ups fail at the same time is...why, the chances would normally be laughable."
"Yes, it would be." stated Alex morosely. "But, hell, it happened. And when I heard Meistrov and his ilk suggest it was an error on my part..." he snorted in disgust. Roy made a calming gesture as the two women looked at him sympathetically. "Stop thinking about that moron. Meistrov never went into combat. He's a strategist. Gloval doesn't think that you made a mistake, and that matters far more. It was clear from the records that you did everything you had to do as far as standard landing maneuvers went. Exactly like the book said. We'll just have to wait for the investigating pilots and engineers to make their report." He seemed to remember something. "Oh, that's right!" he exclaimed. "Al, I got something for you."
Lenardais was definitely perplexed of this sentence. Perplexe and, of course, wary. After all, everything could happen when he was Roy's wingman. As his commander, Roy's influence seemed to widen the definition of 'everything'. So the word 'something' made him wary.
"Well?" he asked, a trifle impatiently. "What is it?"
Roy was about to speak when their dinner arrived. He shrugged and smiled at his friend. "Tell you later. Lets eat!" He dug into his food eagerly.
Irritated, Lenardais nonetheless smiled at Vanessa, pushed his irritation as far back as it would go. And also dug in. It could wait. Not long, but his curiosity could wait.
* * * * * * * * * *
In a captain's life and duties, few things are as upsetting and as saddenning as looking over and revising the death toll of a battle. To see the names of people you either knew or at least heard about listed, and to know you're at least part of the reason those names are printed there, was shocking to say the least. It was also quite unbearable if one wasn't used to it.
At least Fleet Captain Henry Gloval was used to it. As far as others under his command were concerned, at any rate. What he felt inside was another matter entirely. Inside, he felt just as badly as when he had first been after his first great battle as first officer under then-Captain Hayes, Lisa's famous father. All those years ago. At the time, he had felt irritation at the people in his High Command when they showed so little emotion over the deaths their orders had caused. To him, it had felt that they really didn't care. He knew better now. As you get older and higher in the ranks, people start to look up to you, and they don't expect you to fall apart easily. So those in command gradually learned to erect walls around their emotions, especially those like sadness or grief. But inside, they were still very feeling human beings.
He looked over the list once more, sadly and angrily. Of the six hundred veritechs that had entered the field, four hundred and eighty-three had been destroyed. Worse still, only twenty-seven of those pilots survived. As for the Destroid section, it wasn't much better. Five hundred in the field, two hundred and twelve destroyed, eight pilots rescued. No wonder captains always hated arithmetics. The irking thing was, he was good at it. How grand.
Was that mad plan the best you could do, Henri? he reflected sourly. Could you have thought of something better? He didn't know. Never would know. But he hoped to do better soon, because he was tired of losing so many people in each engagement. The problem was, he had no idea what else to do. The SDF-1 was an extremely powerful ship, probably able to take a few enemy ships head-on. But tens of thousands? And even if they made it back to earth, what could they do? Earth's Space Forces now consisted of only a few ships now, insignificant compared to the alien fleet. The Grand Cannon? Gloval shook his head. He never had liked the thing, had always called it "a virtual time-bomb", a position that had shaken and all but destroyed his and Admiral Hayes's friendship. It wasn't operational yet, and even if it was, could it deal with the entire enemy fleet? Doubtful. Very doubtful.
And now, to top all that, there may be a saboteur on the ship! As soon as Meistrov had thought of the notion of pilot error, Gloval had checked Lenardais's file. They were impressive, showing the profile of an excellent pilot with a good grasp of strategy. And by no means an amateur who would make a landing error. To his grief, the Captain of the SDF-1 and Commander of the Earth Fleet had to admit the notion of sabotage, which was becoming widespread, was the one he believed in the most.
Gloval groaned. All of this was giving him a headache! He stood from his desk, fully intending to take a walk to somewhere - anywhere - not near areas of work and was stopped by the chime of the intercom. He sighed. Everyone but him could relax on this ship. Before the iron will took over again, he thought it really wasn't fair. And then he was completely in command once more.
"Gloval here." he stated stonily.
"Sorry to disturb you, sir," said a slightly anxious voice. "but we've finished our primilinary survey and inspection of Skull Three. We don't have a report yet, but we've found some disturbing evidence. Would you like to see it, sir?"
Gloval pondered it for a moment, then said. "Yes, I will join your team shortly. Gloval out." He put his captain's hat on and walked out of his quarters, glad to have somewhere to go to, even if he knew he wouldn't like what he was going to be told one bit.
* * * * * * * * * *
"So. Are you going to tell me or not?"
They had just departed from the chinese restaurant when Lenardais asked this of Roy. Claudia smiled as she knew how the blond pilot would react to the question. She wasn't disappointed.
"What do you mean by that?" Roy asked innocently. Claudia wasn't fooled. Lenardais wasn't either. Not wishing to spoil the moment, the african officer hid her smile with her hand. The shorter man made a disgusted sound and threw uphis hands in exasperation. "The 'something' you got for me, damn it. Don't play the fool. Just spill it." the brown-haired man assumed an air of matyrdom. "Please?" he added tiredly.
"Okay, okay. Here you go." said Roy with a wink, drawing a folded paper from his pocket. Lenardais grabbed it, unfolded it and read fast. His eyes widened. He re-read it again, his expression taking on an undefinable expression. He looked back at Roy in disbelief. Claudia saw that her boyfriend had a very self-congratulating look on his face. Now what is that overgrown kid up to? she asked herself. She looked at Vanessa, and saw the girl hanging back, with a look that indicated faint confusion and dismay. She didn't blame her. Roy and Alex were different kinds of men, which made them such good friends. They had, however, two main points in common: incredible flying skills, and the need to argue with each other any way they can. This kind of stuff took some getting used to. Claudia was, but she wasn't sure Vanessa was yet. She leaned towards the glasses-wearing brunette with a smile.
"Don't worry." she said playfully. "They're always like that." This caught the two men off-guard.
"We're not!" said Alex defensively. "We just like talking certain matters throught!" He waved the paper under Roy's nose. "And that is one such matters!"
"Remember, they're just big kids. Very cute, very talented kids, but kids anyway." finished Claudia as if she hadn't heard a word the smaller pilot had said. This time, Vanessa couldn't keep out a chuckle.
Lenardais threw up his arms in surrender. "I get no respect!" he said to no one in particular. "First this damn piece of paper and now two girls laughing at me!"
"Oh, man, come on!" stated an amused Roy. "Those orders aren't so bad and, besides, Claudia's partly right." Emphasis on 'partly'. Proof that he had been irked just as much as his friend but didn't want to show it too much. Good!
"Those orders are hell! A course in tactics in the academy. I've never taught ANYTHING at ANY academy! I'm in no way qualified..." started Lenardais hotly.
"Well, your years of fighting during the Global Civil War and the knowledge you've acquired during the war here with the....Zentreadi....does give you a lot of creditentials." That argument came, surprisingly, from Vanessa. They were all shocked, Lenardais most of all.
"Don't take his side!" Alex exclaimed, distraught. "You're going to make him feel all swell-headed now!"
"But its true." noted Vanessa.
"Yeah." laughed Roy.
"I think so too." stated Claudia, who was trying hard not to smile.
The squadron commander looked at the people around him in dismay, then seemed to deflate. He had lost this one, and was slowly accepting it.
"Those girls won't learn a lot." he mumbled. "Especially with me."
Claudia blinked, then laughed. So that was it! Roy had given his friend an all-female class! No wonder the boy, with his constant problems with the opposite sex, wasn't at all enthused by the prospect. But, then again, being forced to interact that way with women might help him. Claudia thought so and she was pretty sure Lenardais did too, although he'd never show it, pride forbid. He wouldn't appreciate the being forced into this either. Well, it wasn't her problem. Let dear Roy take the hits when they came.
"Ahh, don't worry buddy." the tall pilot said, his eyes still twinkling. "They'll be so impressed by you you'll have no problems. After all, you're the Hero of Macross City, and these girls are almost all from Macross City!"
Alex grunted something which sounded definitely ungentle, and the discussion dropped back to silence as they made their way to the new military bar which had opened a few days ago. Roy had visited it once by himself and announced it to be great. Personally Claudia had doubts, but then she'd never been big on bars. But as both men had seemed so intent on going to that place, she had kept her peace. As for Vanessa, she had seemed not to care where they went at that moment, but said that if there was a dance floor, that she wanted Lenardais to dance with her at least once.
That had made the young man sputter and blush, while Claudia had her hands full stopping Roy from bursting into a series of teases which she knew might traumatize his friend at that moment. She was partially successful, an sharp shot of her elbow digging into his side being all the warning he needed to calm down. However, it didn't stop him from announcing that the bar indeed had a very popular dance floor. Vanessa had at once smiled. And Alex had blushed redder, stuttering that, hum, sure, if you want, I'll take you to the dance floor.
She only hoped he wouldn't faint from holding a woman that close!
They finally made it to the bar in question, and as soon as she saw the interior - the exterior looked rather typical so she couldn't rather make an opinion - she felt better. The bar wasn't a smokey thing like she'd seen in her years before, but rather a clean, refreshing place with low-level conversations. A large bar with two barmen taking orders or cleaning glasses and many men - destroid, veritech and line officers her, no difference was made - were drinking and joking. Many tables, served by young men and women, were also about, indeed surrounding a dance floor where about half a dozen couples danced on what was presently a soft music.
Roy looked around, then back at her, beaming. "Ain't it great, huh?" he said enthusiastically.
She nooded, but before she could say anything, a scene took hold of her attention. A pilot wearing the rank of lieutenant-commander slammed his drink on the bar, smacked money with an almost-violent jerk on it, then made his way towards the door, a dark scowl upon his face. As he passed the four, he flashed a look of jealousy and spite at Alex, who returned the stare gravely, but not showing anything more than faint pity. The other man must have seen the pity, for he seemed to be about to say something, but then realized the Veritech Commander himself was watching the scene intently. Thus, the man turned on his heels and stormed out, slamming the door behind him.
Claudia turned to a somber Roy. "What was that all about?"
The tall blond pilot only shook his head a little bitterly, exchanged a knowing look with his friend and subordinate, and then resumed his jolly air as if nothing had happened. Claudia sighed. She knew those signs. Roy wasn't about to tell her. But then she saw the curious fire in Vanessa's eyes and smiled. The bridge bunny wanted to know what that was all about too. And she would certainly ask Alex.
Roy she knew would resist her attempt, he could be stubborn at times.
But would the younger pilot, unused to dealing with women, resist Vanessa Leed's questionning? That was another thing entirely.
Chuckiling softly, she then went to get a drink.
* * * * * * * * * *
The four people made up of wo pilots and two Line officers weren't the only ones to see the silent but tense altercation. A few others had seen the cold between the two higher-ranking officers and made their own comments about it. Amongst those were two women who knew one of the four very well. They knew talking about others' business was rude and that they shouldn't be discussing the event lest they got the wrong idea.
But then again, when had lieutenants Kim Young and Sammie Porter ever cared about poking their noses where they had no businesses. After all, one of the two men was Vanessa's possible future boyfriend!
"But he didn't seem to want to fight - Vanessa's date, I mean." Sammie noted.
"Right. But you don't get that kind of stare without having done something to ask for it!" Kim countered "Because he's a hero doesn't mean that he's clean and all nice."
Sammie seemed to consider this, then shook her head firmly. "I don't believe it. He's commander Fokker's friend. And I don't think the commander would have a bad guy as a friend." she seemed fairly triumphant in her assessment of the situation.
Kim had to do her share of effort not to sigh outwardly. Sammie was a very sweet young woman, the type who would never hurt anyone and whom no one would ever want to hurt. But with the sweetness came a naiveté, a childish way of seeing relationships and people which sometimes went to tear at the nerves of those who considered themselves her friends. To Sammie, situations were black and white, good or bad, with little grey between the two.
She rubbed her temples, thinking that it seemed she was way more drunk then two drinks should have made her. That, too, was one thing she felt when trying to make Sammie see the aforementioned grey.
"Sammie..." she said tiredly. She then saw that her friend wasn't looking at her at all, but back towards the quatuor. The raven-haired bridge operator gritted her teeth. "Sammie!" she said a little more loudly.
Her younger friend turned her attention back to her with a very dignified "huh?"
Kim took a breath. "I was talking to you. I'd at least like it if you could look at me and listen, you know."
Sammie blinked, then looked slightly sheepish. "Sorry I was just thinking that...you know...good or bad, Vannessa really found herself a cute one this time."
Kim looked at her friend, than at the squadron commander who was busing alternatively drinking and talking to his friend while Claudia and Vanessa did the same between themselves. She had to admit it - bright eyes, a solid, truthful smile and no discernable facial flaws, as well a nice overall physical appearance. Yup, he definitely wasn't that bad! And to think this had come out of the blue, litterally! And he'd worked fine in the SDF-1, partly because of his reputation and partly because of his skills.
"You're right." she grinned "I still couldn't believe it when he just went and asked Vanessa out like that! And right after she told us he was scared of women!"
Both young officers chuckled at remembering the dragooning they had done with the young lieutenant-commander. They had been so angry about the way their friend had been treated - although said friend hadn't appeared to be that angry after the man had given her an apology and a little meal gift personally prepared. It hadn't been enough, in their opinion, and Kim remembered how they'd cornered him while commander Hayes had looked from the side, amused and intrigued.
He had seemed to be about to throw a fit of anxiety when they went after him like wasps, but had retained control of himself and nervously tried to talk it over. But they hadn't relented until, surprisingly, and very seriously, he had asked their friend out, stunning everyone including his own self. A strange way of asking out for a date it had been, but a date was a date, and Vanessa hadn't refused it.
Lucky girl indeed.
"Ack! NOW I'm getting jealous!" Sammie nearly wailed, breaking Kim out her little trance. She indicated the place where their friend and three superior officers had been gathered. She followed her gesture, her eyes scanning the place, zeroing in on the dance floor. She then immediately felt just like Sammie.
Vanessa had managed to get her shy and reluctant date to dance with her - how she'd managed that was beyond the raven-haired operator, but the result was the same. The two were on the dance floor, where a spectacularly nervous Alex Lenardais was busy trying not to step on his partner's feet as the music became slower and more romantic. The slim brunette seemed to find it all rather amusing, for she smiled the entire time.
After a surprisingly little while, the pilot found his pace, and although his nervousness barely diminished, they looked fine together, and Roy Fokker, dancing much more pleasurably with Claudia, gave off a comment which made the other two blush and then laugh nervously.
Kim sighed. "You're right. Lucky gal. Lets tease her tommorrow!" she said, suddenly smiling.
Sammie nodded with a similar smirk. "Oh, yeah! Lets make sure she gets it for having a nice date while we didn't even get one.
Both nodded. The setting was set. Vanessa was going to get it on the morrow!
* * * * * * * * * *
Lisa Hayes had had a busy day. For nearly twelve hours, she had given orders, reviewed reports and coordinated patrols around the SDF-1, often dragooning the Veritech commanders who were too slow to get into position the way she wanted too - something, she was sad to note, which was giving her a worse and worse reputation amongst the forces which had defended the great battleship - and had almost shouted at a lower bridge operator for telling jokes while on duty.
Thus, she didn't feel all that good about herself and wanted nothing more than spend some off-hours doing something more relaxing. However, captain Gloval had called her on the intercom and told her to come to hanger eleven immediately. She wasn't about to tell her commanding officer no, that simply wasn't done. Not to her anyway. So, sighing to herself, she had gotten back into uniform and gone to the hangar with all haste.
'Sometimes' she thought 'Its really a pain being the First Officer here.' She quashed the thought in dismay, thinking of so many others who worked so hard, of the many Veritech and Destroid personel who had given their lives on Earth and at the Battle of Saturn and the innumerable skirmishes they'd had with the Zentradi forces. No, she had no room to talk. This was war. War is hell and demands sacrifices.
She got to the hangar after being driven there by a jeep, and found many damaged Veritech fighters, each surrounded by a litteral swarm of technicians, machines, and spare parts. Obviously she wasn't the one who was putting in some over time.
In the middle of the material and the noise, removed from the rest of the reparation procedures and surrounded by an even larger swarm of techs and officers, was the infamous Skull Three, stripped of its armor. She stared at it for a moment, forgetting her haste in her amazement.
The SDF-1 was the pride of the Earth Fleet, and not without good reason. But Veritechs were just as praised, for they were fully created by humans, even thought certain technologies had been adapted from a science they didn't fully grasp yet. Beneath the armor was an extremely intricate myriad of micri-motors, alloy bands, wires and electronic devices, a maix which made the Veritech a quantum leap beyond the planes mankind had been using only a decade before. It was the pinnacle of the mix or Earth technology and Robotechnology.
"Ah, commander Hayes. I am glad that you have come. We have grave matters to discuss." came a calm voice she knew, snapping her out of her reverie. God, she really WAS tired.
Not far from her were captain Gloval, standing stiffly, his arms clasped behind him, and another, salt-and-pepper haired man who wore the rank of chief master sergeant. The man looked slighlty dumbfounded by the object he was holding in his hand but wore an equally serious expression. Cold ice running down her spine, she walked to them.
"Captain," she said formally, intrigued now "You called for me?"
A nod. "Yes commander. I want you to hear the explanation this man has just given me so that you may know what has happened as clearly and as directly as I have to my chagrin." the captain turned to the other man. "Master Sergeant Kelleck, would you please explane to the commander what your crew has found?"
The man nodded easily. "Aye-aye, sir. Commander, please take a look at this." He handed her device.
She looked at it attentively. It was small, metellic and cylindrica, with several small but high-power circuits sticking out of it. It was very finely done, and from what she could judge it bespoke of a certain makeshiftness, albeit a very professional one. She could relate it to something easily, however.
She looked at the man. "Is it a fuse?"
The man nodded vigorously. "Exactly, a fuse. A PRE-PROGRAMMED fuse with a miniature receiver. Really an incredible job to cobble that together. This is, in my opinion, what caused the retro-boosters' malfunction." he went to the Veritech, stood under it, pointing at certain circuit lines under the cockpit. The one who did it placed one of these bastards attached to the main retro-booster activation-deactivation circuit, and another attached to the back-up circuit."
He looked at them but his eyes were elsewhere, thinking in engineering terms. "Now, the way I see it, the circuits weren't supposed to activate during the battle."
"Why?" Lisa asked.
"Why not? He had a good chance of getting shot during the Battle of Saturn. No no, these little nasties were designed to go off when the pilot activated his approach transponder, which triggered the program and made these thinks disrupt the retro-booster circuitry. Truly a well-timed assassination attempt."
"Assassination." she breathed. Yes, it all pointed to that, but she couldn't believe someone could be that petty, when mankind's fate hanged in the balance, held by those few pilots and defenders.
Gloval seemed to understand her hesitation. "I know it's a lot to take, commander." he said firmly but sympathetically "But you see the evidence as well as I, and it cannot be denied: there is someone here, on the SDF-1, who wishes commander Lenardais dead and is ready to take drastic steps to do so."
She shook her head. "I understand, captain. I suppose I just can't believe someone would be that foolish as to do such a thing when..." she fell silent.
Gloval nodded in understanding. "I understand how you feel, commander. Only too well." he sighed.
Things, Lisa decided, had just become much, much more complicated. An assassin: just what the ship needed when surrounded by nearly one hundred thousand alien vessels.
* * * * * * * * * *
'I can't believe I went on a date. I can't believe I went on a date!' Lenardais thought wildly, as he walked through the corridors of the 'crew quarters' part of the great ship, a very satisfied-looking Vanessa Leeds holding on to his arm. She had managed to get everything out of him that evening - a lover's dance not being the least of the 'things' she'd acquired from him.
It wasn't a situation he had ever seen himself in, being with a beautiful woman and finding himself less and less nervous towards her as time grew on. During the Global Civil War and during his time he had spent both in the RDF and the United Earth Forces, he had never let a female approach him, surrendering to a fear he simply couldn't fully understand.
Not that he'd been looked after a lot. Oh, sure, a few women tried to get hooked with him - after all, he was one of the aces of Macross City, one of the pilots who had helped in the prior designing of the Veritech Fighter, and had defended the United Earth Goverment in many occasions. But they always gave up, preffering men who didn't well-near run away from them when they came to talk. Even when, with Roy's help, he'd been able to tone the fear down a bit, he'd been unable to muster himself sufficiently to even get into a real date involving women.
That is...until tonight.
He couldn't understand what had happened. He had actually felt in control of himself when with Leeds, as if the female was some sort of talisman against the fear which pervaded his mind and prevented him to have any kind of love life.
That particular walking miracle looked up at him. "It was a good evening, wasn't it?" she asked.
At least it was answer which could come without any soul-searching or questionning. "Yes...it was."
"But I don't get something..."
"Hmm?"
"That lieutenant-commander who looked so...so..."
He sighed. Of course, she couldn't have helped but notice that fact. Dammit, that mission, that fateful mission in Algeria...Abrar...the madness of aerial combat, just as worse as the dogfight of Saturn. However, it was worse...after all, this was the day that... that they had seen and flet the worse...agh, he couldn't think about it yet. He instead concentrated on answering the woman as best as he could without giving in too much detail.
"That was Mario Ferraso, commander of the Green Squadron. We were...we were wingmates for a little while...a eight-men strong wing of advanced 24F fast-response aircrafts. Our wing was sent to that...mission I never told you about...lets just say...Roy, me, Mario and another guy were the only ones which survived what happened. Lets just say our relationship has been...strained since then." He felt her inquisitive eyes on him, but refused to say more.
He'd said too much already. Vanessa obviously saw this, for she let go of the problem with a nod. They continued their walk, passing several crewmembers in uniform, who more often than not looked at them with knowing smiles to the brown-haired pilot's extreme discomfort and annoyance. So it was with a certain amont of relief when they arrived to Vanessa's officer quarters - quarter which were slightly smaller than his, because of the rank difference. It was over for that night. Now he could recuperate and cope with the new experience.
But Leeds proved she wasn't finished with him, as she turned towards him and, with a laugh, put her arms around him and pressed her lips against his. It wasn't long, but to Alex Lenardais, it was an electrifying experience.
He had never been kissed like that in his life. Never. This was all new, and even more frightening than his first flight. He felt small, alone, and scared, his mind streching backward, going back to one of the many blank spaces time had carved into his memory, fueling the fear somehow. But there was surprising pleasure in the sensation, and he found himself accepting it without question.
And then, as suddenly as it had started, it was over. Vanessa stepped back, looking at him gently, almost shyly. "So, I still kiss well?"
"Errrr..." he seemed unable to put up a complete sentence at that moment, his mind a little shaken, still feeling her lips, burning with the sensation.
She smiled. "I'll take that as a 'yes'. Good night! We'll have to do it again soon!" she opened the door, turned back witrh a smirk. "Oh! And good luck on that all-female class you're going to teach!" And with that the door closed.
He stood there, doing a double-take as he did a double-take, remembering the sort of class his GOOD FRIEND and DESPICABLE COMMANDER Roy had nearly enforced upon him. Knowing there were many other classes at the academy he could teach, he knew the man had arranged all that just so to try and halp Alex find a 'cure' to his female timidity.
So be it. After all, that might mean he'd bee able to get more confortable with Vanessa, not the women shirker he still seemed to be. He suddenly felt he actually WANTED to see Leeds again, wanted to feel her, smell her, hear her.
Feel her lips on him again.
Yep, no doubt about it. Good or bad, that date had opened a whole new territory.
And far be it for a RDF pilot not to explore it!
March 11, 2009, Between Saturn and Jupiter
"And while the battle was possibly a cause of the retroboosters' imbalance, I must express serious doubts, as this officer used said system during the Battle of Saturn and had first-hand visual confirmation of their proper functioning parameters. That the primary and secondary failsafe never took over the supposed damaged circuitry is certainly cause for suspicion. It is the hope of this officer that the Investigation Section find a noteworthy reason as for this failure."
Thank you,
Alexander Lenardais
Lt.Cmdr, SDF-1
The commander of Indigo Squadron reread his report quickly. Finding no obvious faults to it, he had it sent to the administration department of the ship. He truly hoped that the investigation would find something interesting or at least something better than pilot error. He snorted. I'm the first to know I can make mistakes, he thought somberly, but I'm also the first to know I don't make those kinds of mistakes. Of course the pilots - especially the veteran pilots - didn't believe that he could either, and blamed the machine for it. As for the Line officers...well, most of them agreed, but a few others thought he might be the problem. Lenardais dwelled on that only briefly, then shrugged. He still had the full confidence of the pilots, and that was what counted to him.
He rose from his chair and paced the room for a while, trying to decide how he could spend the evening. Maybe he'd just go and take a walk throught the parks, or go chat with some of the on-duty pilots back at the hangars. Perhaps, even better, he could get there and call the bridge so he could do a little flying...
"I'm missing something here." he mumbled. "Why does thinking of the bridge...?" Then he remembered. Looked at his watch. And cursed in irritation and dismay. DAMN! Vanessa! The date! How could I forget the date?!? Of course the fact that he had been in battle - and almost been killed in relation to it - did not seem to him a very good excuse. However, he knew he still had twenty-five minutes: enought time to change into something a little more suitable than uniform underwear and run for his life in the hopes of arriving to the meeting place he had blurted out when he had stupidly invited her on impulse. In ten minutes he had shaved, brushed his teeth and jumped into a nice civilian attire: black pants, pale blue shirt and dark brown jacket. He then zoomed off his quarters and rushed off, his inner voice teasing him about his habits of getting himself into those kinds of ridiculous jams. He squashed it quickly before he laughed. After all, a Squadron Commander running throught corridors and parts of the city laughing might get him into worse trouble than he already could be putting himself into and not to maention give him a hell of a bad reputation.
He was physically fit, for piloting was demanding, and piloting a veritech even more so. Thought he wasn't an addict in exercices, he still practiced his karate in the training complex and performed the necessary exercises demanded by the rules of the RDF Veritech Division. So he reached the site - the front of the reconstructed City Hall. He slowed to a hurried pace, and slowed again to walking when he was surprised to find not only Vanessa Leeds waiting but also Roy Fokker and his girlfriend, third-in-command Claudia Grant. This discovery made him skid to a stop. No way were they going to see him trying to catch his breath! He took to the shade given from the side of the building and recuperated for a moment. The trio hadn't noticed him, at least. They were still chatting casually and amiably. From time to time, however, Vanessa would look at her watch then cast her gaze around, seemingly worried. And each time Roy said something that seemed reassuring. Of course, Alex couldn't know what they were talking about, but he fancied that the slim bridge lieutenant was worried about him not showing up. That thought was awfully nice...even if it was only a fancy. Guess I ought to show up then.
He left the side of the building and swiftly walked across the street. Claudia spotted him first and indicated him to the others. Thought they both were smiling when they saw him, he saw a look of relief flicker in the eyes of Roy and Vanessa. Thought I wasn't gonna show up, huh? he reflected ruefully. Good thing I did, if only to spite you.
"Hey Al! So, decided to show up, pal?" inquired Roy as he came close. The two friends shook hands.
"Of course I'd show up. Wouldn't want to give you the satisfaction of hearing otherwise!!" Alex mocked. They all laughed at the small friendly tease. During that time, the smaller pilot looked at his date more closely. He found her stunning in a dark blue blouse and a long black skirt, both doing nothing to downsize her lithe body and long, athletic legs. Her face showed open eagerness, curiosity and - or so he fancied - a bit of shyness. Which was less than he, who felt so stiff with dread he almost felt like going to an hangar and beg a pilot to let him do his patrol. As it was, only the presence of Roy and the pride that had held him together in the darkest hours of his life forced him to stay. Not that he minded dating a girl as bright and as beautiful as Vanessa Leeds. Far from it. But chronic fear was something that one didn't get rid of easily. The added female presence of Claudia only exacerbated his feelings of fear. As such, he clamped his emotional shield around him and tried to only let positive feelings seep throught it. So far, it seemed to be working.
"Well, now that we're all here, I propose we all go and get something to eat. Any takers?" This said by Claudia, who looked at the two bickering men - and especially Roy - with an indulgent and fond smile. The two men stared at each other for a second, a second in which, mock-threats, jokes and friendly teases passed at light speed between them. A second only, and they looked away with almost childish smiles. At that very moment, one would have been baffled to know they were hardened, ace veritech pilots. Claudia looked at them with an amused and exasperated expression, fairly throwing up her hands and catching hold of Roy's arm. The tall pilot chuckled and put his arm around the african woman's shoulder. He motioned for Alex and Vanessa to follow. As they walked away from them, the young commander felt a fluttering in his chest and something cold clamp down his stomach. Inwardly cursing himself, he ignored both feelings and smiled at his date, bowing slightly as his arm indicated the departing duo.
"Well, shall we go, m'lady?" he said, mimicking the clipped, polite ways of men of England. The brunette hesitated, then smiled back, althought a trifle uncomfortably. He thought he knew why. But at least she smiled.
"Yeah. Lets." She said. He extended his hand, and she took it. Still somewhat wary underneath. Still unsure of him. He didn't blame her. He had been a complete, thoroughly illogical jerk, and it was normal he'd get to pay for it. He wanted to make it certain that he was sorry, that this was caused by the stress of being timed-displaced and compounded by being revisited with an old but great pain. More than that, he wanted to say this would never happen again, that he'd never willingly hurt her.
But he wouldn't, couldn't do it. He knew the words he had to say, when to say them, but couldn't get past the wall of guilt he had put around himself over the incident. He had always been like this. When he felt guilty about something, he let it rankle until it hurt him far more than necessary. Some sort of twisted idea of atonement? Perhaps. And for all the people who had tried to push him out of this funk, he had never let go of that particular unhealthy habit.
They strolled leisurely, all four of them, chatting happily to each other, until they reached the restaurant. This was, so far, the only civilian restaurant available in Macross City, althought others would be opened within days. Being in space and constantly harrassed by enemy ships, entertainment was fast becoming paramount, as the civilians tried to live out their lives as normally as possible and as the soldiers tried to leave the stress of the ship behind. Of course, there where places where the military officers gathered for casual get-togethers, but it was decided silently that these weren't exactly good places for dating. So they had made a logical, and again silent, choice.
The restaurant itself was a well-kept place, definitely asian in nature with tapestries and carved corean wooden plates on the walls. The common room wasn't full - they were in the early evening, after the main rush- but here and there where seated people and couples, some with children, enought to put a very comfortable mood about the place. Nice smells of food wafted from the kitchen where a short, round cheerful man was working. Claudia commented that this really seemed a fine place, and the others assented freely. After a moments wait they were taken by a young waitress to a table. As they sat, Alex wondered about the girl, feeling he knew her somewhat. He wracked his brain for a possible answer without his main organ giving anything other than that feeling. Such it was that he only caught up with the last words of Roy's sentence.
"...went okay, huh?"
He glanced at Roy, confused. "Sorry, didn't get that. What did you just say?"
"I said: "Taking the circumstances, I guess the battle went okay?""
Alex shrugged. "Well, yeah, I guess. We held up pretty good. We lost a lot of people, thought. But then, we could only expect it. I heard we lost Hemmings and Siroix." His tone was somber: he had known these commanders a long time, even thought they weren't friends.
Roy nodded soberly. "Yeah, we did. Along with nearly two-thirds of of fighter forces and a fourth of our destroids. Including the few deaths onboard ship during the attack, we can say that its a tragedy without exagerating."
"Could be worse." said Vanessa. "We could be all dead right now."
"There's that." admitted Alex. "But its not much better knowing each victory is hollow."
"At least we made it all in one piece." Claudia observed, indicating herself and her three companions. Alex opened his mouth to speak and comment on that, but closed it as the waitress who had led them to the table came near them again to take their orders. The young commander observed her again, trying to remember who she was. Young, much younger than he was, pretty cute, blueish-black hair, high but not unpleasant voice. Naivete almost stamped on her forehead. Yes, it doubtlessly fit someone he had either met or heard about recently. But who?
The answer to the question came abdruptly and quickly, however, as the girl caught sight of Roy. Her small but sincere smile widened and her eyes brightened slightly.
"Hello, Commander Fokker! How are you?"
"Ho, hi there Minmay!" exclaimed Roy. "Didn't know it was you serving us. I'm fine, thanks. And you? Pretty as ever?"
Minmay blushed at the remark, giggling girlishly. Alex decided that this girl deserved the 'naive' mark he had mentally stamped on her, to react to such a transparent comment. Yet he might as well stamp the word 'forgetful' on himself. All this time and all the talks that he had had with his old friend, all the times he had described Rick and Minmay and yet he hadn't clicked. Boy, did he feel like a loser! He shrugged off these unsavory thoughts and rejoined the outside world.
He ordered some light food- fish and rice - with a chicken-flavored asian soup, then waited until everyone had taken their orders before speaking again.
"Hey, I forgot to ask, how did Rick take his first fight?"
The veritech commander sighed. "Well, not too badly, given the circumstances. Nearly got shot a few times. Went as far as finding himself inside the enemy ship. Froze when he saw a giant man right in front of him. Got himself out right before the explosion. All in all, given he's not catatonic, I'd say he handled it well."
Alex, Vanessa and Claudia all felt a bit breathless after this verbal outing. Vanessa was the first to recover.
"Then he's just the type of pilot we need." she turned to Alex. "And you, commander Lenardais? How was your command?" she said it with an itsy-bitsy point of irony that tugged at his combativity, but he chose to ignore it and answered that all his pilots, even Gendorskly, had done rather well.
"Althought I almost had to restrain Galger when he went hunting for commander Hayes to teach her 'moderation'. He was ready to take off after her after he saw me at..." his relaxed demeanor faded, as did his smile. Silence clamped down on the group as the man struggled with his emotions for a moment. He coughed then went on. "my crash. he finished softly and lamely."
Roy went somber at that, also thinking about the crash. "It was a close call, Al. If you hadn't used the battloid mode..." he stopped when he realized what he was saying, flushed and started again. "Problem is, it shouldn't have happened. Ever." Claudia and Alex both nodded in agreement, but Vanessa looked clueless, and asked why it could never happen. Claudia explained it to her.
"A veritech fighter is built to be a safe fighting craft, even should an emergency occur. Because of that, there are two back-up circuits on each systems, including all the boosters. To have the principal circuit and both back-ups fail at the same time is...why, the chances would normally be laughable."
"Yes, it would be." stated Alex morosely. "But, hell, it happened. And when I heard Meistrov and his ilk suggest it was an error on my part..." he snorted in disgust. Roy made a calming gesture as the two women looked at him sympathetically. "Stop thinking about that moron. Meistrov never went into combat. He's a strategist. Gloval doesn't think that you made a mistake, and that matters far more. It was clear from the records that you did everything you had to do as far as standard landing maneuvers went. Exactly like the book said. We'll just have to wait for the investigating pilots and engineers to make their report." He seemed to remember something. "Oh, that's right!" he exclaimed. "Al, I got something for you."
Lenardais was definitely perplexed of this sentence. Perplexe and, of course, wary. After all, everything could happen when he was Roy's wingman. As his commander, Roy's influence seemed to widen the definition of 'everything'. So the word 'something' made him wary.
"Well?" he asked, a trifle impatiently. "What is it?"
Roy was about to speak when their dinner arrived. He shrugged and smiled at his friend. "Tell you later. Lets eat!" He dug into his food eagerly.
Irritated, Lenardais nonetheless smiled at Vanessa, pushed his irritation as far back as it would go. And also dug in. It could wait. Not long, but his curiosity could wait.
* * * * * * * * * *
In a captain's life and duties, few things are as upsetting and as saddenning as looking over and revising the death toll of a battle. To see the names of people you either knew or at least heard about listed, and to know you're at least part of the reason those names are printed there, was shocking to say the least. It was also quite unbearable if one wasn't used to it.
At least Fleet Captain Henry Gloval was used to it. As far as others under his command were concerned, at any rate. What he felt inside was another matter entirely. Inside, he felt just as badly as when he had first been after his first great battle as first officer under then-Captain Hayes, Lisa's famous father. All those years ago. At the time, he had felt irritation at the people in his High Command when they showed so little emotion over the deaths their orders had caused. To him, it had felt that they really didn't care. He knew better now. As you get older and higher in the ranks, people start to look up to you, and they don't expect you to fall apart easily. So those in command gradually learned to erect walls around their emotions, especially those like sadness or grief. But inside, they were still very feeling human beings.
He looked over the list once more, sadly and angrily. Of the six hundred veritechs that had entered the field, four hundred and eighty-three had been destroyed. Worse still, only twenty-seven of those pilots survived. As for the Destroid section, it wasn't much better. Five hundred in the field, two hundred and twelve destroyed, eight pilots rescued. No wonder captains always hated arithmetics. The irking thing was, he was good at it. How grand.
Was that mad plan the best you could do, Henri? he reflected sourly. Could you have thought of something better? He didn't know. Never would know. But he hoped to do better soon, because he was tired of losing so many people in each engagement. The problem was, he had no idea what else to do. The SDF-1 was an extremely powerful ship, probably able to take a few enemy ships head-on. But tens of thousands? And even if they made it back to earth, what could they do? Earth's Space Forces now consisted of only a few ships now, insignificant compared to the alien fleet. The Grand Cannon? Gloval shook his head. He never had liked the thing, had always called it "a virtual time-bomb", a position that had shaken and all but destroyed his and Admiral Hayes's friendship. It wasn't operational yet, and even if it was, could it deal with the entire enemy fleet? Doubtful. Very doubtful.
And now, to top all that, there may be a saboteur on the ship! As soon as Meistrov had thought of the notion of pilot error, Gloval had checked Lenardais's file. They were impressive, showing the profile of an excellent pilot with a good grasp of strategy. And by no means an amateur who would make a landing error. To his grief, the Captain of the SDF-1 and Commander of the Earth Fleet had to admit the notion of sabotage, which was becoming widespread, was the one he believed in the most.
Gloval groaned. All of this was giving him a headache! He stood from his desk, fully intending to take a walk to somewhere - anywhere - not near areas of work and was stopped by the chime of the intercom. He sighed. Everyone but him could relax on this ship. Before the iron will took over again, he thought it really wasn't fair. And then he was completely in command once more.
"Gloval here." he stated stonily.
"Sorry to disturb you, sir," said a slightly anxious voice. "but we've finished our primilinary survey and inspection of Skull Three. We don't have a report yet, but we've found some disturbing evidence. Would you like to see it, sir?"
Gloval pondered it for a moment, then said. "Yes, I will join your team shortly. Gloval out." He put his captain's hat on and walked out of his quarters, glad to have somewhere to go to, even if he knew he wouldn't like what he was going to be told one bit.
* * * * * * * * * *
"So. Are you going to tell me or not?"
They had just departed from the chinese restaurant when Lenardais asked this of Roy. Claudia smiled as she knew how the blond pilot would react to the question. She wasn't disappointed.
"What do you mean by that?" Roy asked innocently. Claudia wasn't fooled. Lenardais wasn't either. Not wishing to spoil the moment, the african officer hid her smile with her hand. The shorter man made a disgusted sound and threw uphis hands in exasperation. "The 'something' you got for me, damn it. Don't play the fool. Just spill it." the brown-haired man assumed an air of matyrdom. "Please?" he added tiredly.
"Okay, okay. Here you go." said Roy with a wink, drawing a folded paper from his pocket. Lenardais grabbed it, unfolded it and read fast. His eyes widened. He re-read it again, his expression taking on an undefinable expression. He looked back at Roy in disbelief. Claudia saw that her boyfriend had a very self-congratulating look on his face. Now what is that overgrown kid up to? she asked herself. She looked at Vanessa, and saw the girl hanging back, with a look that indicated faint confusion and dismay. She didn't blame her. Roy and Alex were different kinds of men, which made them such good friends. They had, however, two main points in common: incredible flying skills, and the need to argue with each other any way they can. This kind of stuff took some getting used to. Claudia was, but she wasn't sure Vanessa was yet. She leaned towards the glasses-wearing brunette with a smile.
"Don't worry." she said playfully. "They're always like that." This caught the two men off-guard.
"We're not!" said Alex defensively. "We just like talking certain matters throught!" He waved the paper under Roy's nose. "And that is one such matters!"
"Remember, they're just big kids. Very cute, very talented kids, but kids anyway." finished Claudia as if she hadn't heard a word the smaller pilot had said. This time, Vanessa couldn't keep out a chuckle.
Lenardais threw up his arms in surrender. "I get no respect!" he said to no one in particular. "First this damn piece of paper and now two girls laughing at me!"
"Oh, man, come on!" stated an amused Roy. "Those orders aren't so bad and, besides, Claudia's partly right." Emphasis on 'partly'. Proof that he had been irked just as much as his friend but didn't want to show it too much. Good!
"Those orders are hell! A course in tactics in the academy. I've never taught ANYTHING at ANY academy! I'm in no way qualified..." started Lenardais hotly.
"Well, your years of fighting during the Global Civil War and the knowledge you've acquired during the war here with the....Zentreadi....does give you a lot of creditentials." That argument came, surprisingly, from Vanessa. They were all shocked, Lenardais most of all.
"Don't take his side!" Alex exclaimed, distraught. "You're going to make him feel all swell-headed now!"
"But its true." noted Vanessa.
"Yeah." laughed Roy.
"I think so too." stated Claudia, who was trying hard not to smile.
The squadron commander looked at the people around him in dismay, then seemed to deflate. He had lost this one, and was slowly accepting it.
"Those girls won't learn a lot." he mumbled. "Especially with me."
Claudia blinked, then laughed. So that was it! Roy had given his friend an all-female class! No wonder the boy, with his constant problems with the opposite sex, wasn't at all enthused by the prospect. But, then again, being forced to interact that way with women might help him. Claudia thought so and she was pretty sure Lenardais did too, although he'd never show it, pride forbid. He wouldn't appreciate the being forced into this either. Well, it wasn't her problem. Let dear Roy take the hits when they came.
"Ahh, don't worry buddy." the tall pilot said, his eyes still twinkling. "They'll be so impressed by you you'll have no problems. After all, you're the Hero of Macross City, and these girls are almost all from Macross City!"
Alex grunted something which sounded definitely ungentle, and the discussion dropped back to silence as they made their way to the new military bar which had opened a few days ago. Roy had visited it once by himself and announced it to be great. Personally Claudia had doubts, but then she'd never been big on bars. But as both men had seemed so intent on going to that place, she had kept her peace. As for Vanessa, she had seemed not to care where they went at that moment, but said that if there was a dance floor, that she wanted Lenardais to dance with her at least once.
That had made the young man sputter and blush, while Claudia had her hands full stopping Roy from bursting into a series of teases which she knew might traumatize his friend at that moment. She was partially successful, an sharp shot of her elbow digging into his side being all the warning he needed to calm down. However, it didn't stop him from announcing that the bar indeed had a very popular dance floor. Vanessa had at once smiled. And Alex had blushed redder, stuttering that, hum, sure, if you want, I'll take you to the dance floor.
She only hoped he wouldn't faint from holding a woman that close!
They finally made it to the bar in question, and as soon as she saw the interior - the exterior looked rather typical so she couldn't rather make an opinion - she felt better. The bar wasn't a smokey thing like she'd seen in her years before, but rather a clean, refreshing place with low-level conversations. A large bar with two barmen taking orders or cleaning glasses and many men - destroid, veritech and line officers her, no difference was made - were drinking and joking. Many tables, served by young men and women, were also about, indeed surrounding a dance floor where about half a dozen couples danced on what was presently a soft music.
Roy looked around, then back at her, beaming. "Ain't it great, huh?" he said enthusiastically.
She nooded, but before she could say anything, a scene took hold of her attention. A pilot wearing the rank of lieutenant-commander slammed his drink on the bar, smacked money with an almost-violent jerk on it, then made his way towards the door, a dark scowl upon his face. As he passed the four, he flashed a look of jealousy and spite at Alex, who returned the stare gravely, but not showing anything more than faint pity. The other man must have seen the pity, for he seemed to be about to say something, but then realized the Veritech Commander himself was watching the scene intently. Thus, the man turned on his heels and stormed out, slamming the door behind him.
Claudia turned to a somber Roy. "What was that all about?"
The tall blond pilot only shook his head a little bitterly, exchanged a knowing look with his friend and subordinate, and then resumed his jolly air as if nothing had happened. Claudia sighed. She knew those signs. Roy wasn't about to tell her. But then she saw the curious fire in Vanessa's eyes and smiled. The bridge bunny wanted to know what that was all about too. And she would certainly ask Alex.
Roy she knew would resist her attempt, he could be stubborn at times.
But would the younger pilot, unused to dealing with women, resist Vanessa Leed's questionning? That was another thing entirely.
Chuckiling softly, she then went to get a drink.
* * * * * * * * * *
The four people made up of wo pilots and two Line officers weren't the only ones to see the silent but tense altercation. A few others had seen the cold between the two higher-ranking officers and made their own comments about it. Amongst those were two women who knew one of the four very well. They knew talking about others' business was rude and that they shouldn't be discussing the event lest they got the wrong idea.
But then again, when had lieutenants Kim Young and Sammie Porter ever cared about poking their noses where they had no businesses. After all, one of the two men was Vanessa's possible future boyfriend!
"But he didn't seem to want to fight - Vanessa's date, I mean." Sammie noted.
"Right. But you don't get that kind of stare without having done something to ask for it!" Kim countered "Because he's a hero doesn't mean that he's clean and all nice."
Sammie seemed to consider this, then shook her head firmly. "I don't believe it. He's commander Fokker's friend. And I don't think the commander would have a bad guy as a friend." she seemed fairly triumphant in her assessment of the situation.
Kim had to do her share of effort not to sigh outwardly. Sammie was a very sweet young woman, the type who would never hurt anyone and whom no one would ever want to hurt. But with the sweetness came a naiveté, a childish way of seeing relationships and people which sometimes went to tear at the nerves of those who considered themselves her friends. To Sammie, situations were black and white, good or bad, with little grey between the two.
She rubbed her temples, thinking that it seemed she was way more drunk then two drinks should have made her. That, too, was one thing she felt when trying to make Sammie see the aforementioned grey.
"Sammie..." she said tiredly. She then saw that her friend wasn't looking at her at all, but back towards the quatuor. The raven-haired bridge operator gritted her teeth. "Sammie!" she said a little more loudly.
Her younger friend turned her attention back to her with a very dignified "huh?"
Kim took a breath. "I was talking to you. I'd at least like it if you could look at me and listen, you know."
Sammie blinked, then looked slightly sheepish. "Sorry I was just thinking that...you know...good or bad, Vannessa really found herself a cute one this time."
Kim looked at her friend, than at the squadron commander who was busing alternatively drinking and talking to his friend while Claudia and Vanessa did the same between themselves. She had to admit it - bright eyes, a solid, truthful smile and no discernable facial flaws, as well a nice overall physical appearance. Yup, he definitely wasn't that bad! And to think this had come out of the blue, litterally! And he'd worked fine in the SDF-1, partly because of his reputation and partly because of his skills.
"You're right." she grinned "I still couldn't believe it when he just went and asked Vanessa out like that! And right after she told us he was scared of women!"
Both young officers chuckled at remembering the dragooning they had done with the young lieutenant-commander. They had been so angry about the way their friend had been treated - although said friend hadn't appeared to be that angry after the man had given her an apology and a little meal gift personally prepared. It hadn't been enough, in their opinion, and Kim remembered how they'd cornered him while commander Hayes had looked from the side, amused and intrigued.
He had seemed to be about to throw a fit of anxiety when they went after him like wasps, but had retained control of himself and nervously tried to talk it over. But they hadn't relented until, surprisingly, and very seriously, he had asked their friend out, stunning everyone including his own self. A strange way of asking out for a date it had been, but a date was a date, and Vanessa hadn't refused it.
Lucky girl indeed.
"Ack! NOW I'm getting jealous!" Sammie nearly wailed, breaking Kim out her little trance. She indicated the place where their friend and three superior officers had been gathered. She followed her gesture, her eyes scanning the place, zeroing in on the dance floor. She then immediately felt just like Sammie.
Vanessa had managed to get her shy and reluctant date to dance with her - how she'd managed that was beyond the raven-haired operator, but the result was the same. The two were on the dance floor, where a spectacularly nervous Alex Lenardais was busy trying not to step on his partner's feet as the music became slower and more romantic. The slim brunette seemed to find it all rather amusing, for she smiled the entire time.
After a surprisingly little while, the pilot found his pace, and although his nervousness barely diminished, they looked fine together, and Roy Fokker, dancing much more pleasurably with Claudia, gave off a comment which made the other two blush and then laugh nervously.
Kim sighed. "You're right. Lucky gal. Lets tease her tommorrow!" she said, suddenly smiling.
Sammie nodded with a similar smirk. "Oh, yeah! Lets make sure she gets it for having a nice date while we didn't even get one.
Both nodded. The setting was set. Vanessa was going to get it on the morrow!
* * * * * * * * * *
Lisa Hayes had had a busy day. For nearly twelve hours, she had given orders, reviewed reports and coordinated patrols around the SDF-1, often dragooning the Veritech commanders who were too slow to get into position the way she wanted too - something, she was sad to note, which was giving her a worse and worse reputation amongst the forces which had defended the great battleship - and had almost shouted at a lower bridge operator for telling jokes while on duty.
Thus, she didn't feel all that good about herself and wanted nothing more than spend some off-hours doing something more relaxing. However, captain Gloval had called her on the intercom and told her to come to hanger eleven immediately. She wasn't about to tell her commanding officer no, that simply wasn't done. Not to her anyway. So, sighing to herself, she had gotten back into uniform and gone to the hangar with all haste.
'Sometimes' she thought 'Its really a pain being the First Officer here.' She quashed the thought in dismay, thinking of so many others who worked so hard, of the many Veritech and Destroid personel who had given their lives on Earth and at the Battle of Saturn and the innumerable skirmishes they'd had with the Zentradi forces. No, she had no room to talk. This was war. War is hell and demands sacrifices.
She got to the hangar after being driven there by a jeep, and found many damaged Veritech fighters, each surrounded by a litteral swarm of technicians, machines, and spare parts. Obviously she wasn't the one who was putting in some over time.
In the middle of the material and the noise, removed from the rest of the reparation procedures and surrounded by an even larger swarm of techs and officers, was the infamous Skull Three, stripped of its armor. She stared at it for a moment, forgetting her haste in her amazement.
The SDF-1 was the pride of the Earth Fleet, and not without good reason. But Veritechs were just as praised, for they were fully created by humans, even thought certain technologies had been adapted from a science they didn't fully grasp yet. Beneath the armor was an extremely intricate myriad of micri-motors, alloy bands, wires and electronic devices, a maix which made the Veritech a quantum leap beyond the planes mankind had been using only a decade before. It was the pinnacle of the mix or Earth technology and Robotechnology.
"Ah, commander Hayes. I am glad that you have come. We have grave matters to discuss." came a calm voice she knew, snapping her out of her reverie. God, she really WAS tired.
Not far from her were captain Gloval, standing stiffly, his arms clasped behind him, and another, salt-and-pepper haired man who wore the rank of chief master sergeant. The man looked slighlty dumbfounded by the object he was holding in his hand but wore an equally serious expression. Cold ice running down her spine, she walked to them.
"Captain," she said formally, intrigued now "You called for me?"
A nod. "Yes commander. I want you to hear the explanation this man has just given me so that you may know what has happened as clearly and as directly as I have to my chagrin." the captain turned to the other man. "Master Sergeant Kelleck, would you please explane to the commander what your crew has found?"
The man nodded easily. "Aye-aye, sir. Commander, please take a look at this." He handed her device.
She looked at it attentively. It was small, metellic and cylindrica, with several small but high-power circuits sticking out of it. It was very finely done, and from what she could judge it bespoke of a certain makeshiftness, albeit a very professional one. She could relate it to something easily, however.
She looked at the man. "Is it a fuse?"
The man nodded vigorously. "Exactly, a fuse. A PRE-PROGRAMMED fuse with a miniature receiver. Really an incredible job to cobble that together. This is, in my opinion, what caused the retro-boosters' malfunction." he went to the Veritech, stood under it, pointing at certain circuit lines under the cockpit. The one who did it placed one of these bastards attached to the main retro-booster activation-deactivation circuit, and another attached to the back-up circuit."
He looked at them but his eyes were elsewhere, thinking in engineering terms. "Now, the way I see it, the circuits weren't supposed to activate during the battle."
"Why?" Lisa asked.
"Why not? He had a good chance of getting shot during the Battle of Saturn. No no, these little nasties were designed to go off when the pilot activated his approach transponder, which triggered the program and made these thinks disrupt the retro-booster circuitry. Truly a well-timed assassination attempt."
"Assassination." she breathed. Yes, it all pointed to that, but she couldn't believe someone could be that petty, when mankind's fate hanged in the balance, held by those few pilots and defenders.
Gloval seemed to understand her hesitation. "I know it's a lot to take, commander." he said firmly but sympathetically "But you see the evidence as well as I, and it cannot be denied: there is someone here, on the SDF-1, who wishes commander Lenardais dead and is ready to take drastic steps to do so."
She shook her head. "I understand, captain. I suppose I just can't believe someone would be that foolish as to do such a thing when..." she fell silent.
Gloval nodded in understanding. "I understand how you feel, commander. Only too well." he sighed.
Things, Lisa decided, had just become much, much more complicated. An assassin: just what the ship needed when surrounded by nearly one hundred thousand alien vessels.
* * * * * * * * * *
'I can't believe I went on a date. I can't believe I went on a date!' Lenardais thought wildly, as he walked through the corridors of the 'crew quarters' part of the great ship, a very satisfied-looking Vanessa Leeds holding on to his arm. She had managed to get everything out of him that evening - a lover's dance not being the least of the 'things' she'd acquired from him.
It wasn't a situation he had ever seen himself in, being with a beautiful woman and finding himself less and less nervous towards her as time grew on. During the Global Civil War and during his time he had spent both in the RDF and the United Earth Forces, he had never let a female approach him, surrendering to a fear he simply couldn't fully understand.
Not that he'd been looked after a lot. Oh, sure, a few women tried to get hooked with him - after all, he was one of the aces of Macross City, one of the pilots who had helped in the prior designing of the Veritech Fighter, and had defended the United Earth Goverment in many occasions. But they always gave up, preffering men who didn't well-near run away from them when they came to talk. Even when, with Roy's help, he'd been able to tone the fear down a bit, he'd been unable to muster himself sufficiently to even get into a real date involving women.
That is...until tonight.
He couldn't understand what had happened. He had actually felt in control of himself when with Leeds, as if the female was some sort of talisman against the fear which pervaded his mind and prevented him to have any kind of love life.
That particular walking miracle looked up at him. "It was a good evening, wasn't it?" she asked.
At least it was answer which could come without any soul-searching or questionning. "Yes...it was."
"But I don't get something..."
"Hmm?"
"That lieutenant-commander who looked so...so..."
He sighed. Of course, she couldn't have helped but notice that fact. Dammit, that mission, that fateful mission in Algeria...Abrar...the madness of aerial combat, just as worse as the dogfight of Saturn. However, it was worse...after all, this was the day that... that they had seen and flet the worse...agh, he couldn't think about it yet. He instead concentrated on answering the woman as best as he could without giving in too much detail.
"That was Mario Ferraso, commander of the Green Squadron. We were...we were wingmates for a little while...a eight-men strong wing of advanced 24F fast-response aircrafts. Our wing was sent to that...mission I never told you about...lets just say...Roy, me, Mario and another guy were the only ones which survived what happened. Lets just say our relationship has been...strained since then." He felt her inquisitive eyes on him, but refused to say more.
He'd said too much already. Vanessa obviously saw this, for she let go of the problem with a nod. They continued their walk, passing several crewmembers in uniform, who more often than not looked at them with knowing smiles to the brown-haired pilot's extreme discomfort and annoyance. So it was with a certain amont of relief when they arrived to Vanessa's officer quarters - quarter which were slightly smaller than his, because of the rank difference. It was over for that night. Now he could recuperate and cope with the new experience.
But Leeds proved she wasn't finished with him, as she turned towards him and, with a laugh, put her arms around him and pressed her lips against his. It wasn't long, but to Alex Lenardais, it was an electrifying experience.
He had never been kissed like that in his life. Never. This was all new, and even more frightening than his first flight. He felt small, alone, and scared, his mind streching backward, going back to one of the many blank spaces time had carved into his memory, fueling the fear somehow. But there was surprising pleasure in the sensation, and he found himself accepting it without question.
And then, as suddenly as it had started, it was over. Vanessa stepped back, looking at him gently, almost shyly. "So, I still kiss well?"
"Errrr..." he seemed unable to put up a complete sentence at that moment, his mind a little shaken, still feeling her lips, burning with the sensation.
She smiled. "I'll take that as a 'yes'. Good night! We'll have to do it again soon!" she opened the door, turned back witrh a smirk. "Oh! And good luck on that all-female class you're going to teach!" And with that the door closed.
He stood there, doing a double-take as he did a double-take, remembering the sort of class his GOOD FRIEND and DESPICABLE COMMANDER Roy had nearly enforced upon him. Knowing there were many other classes at the academy he could teach, he knew the man had arranged all that just so to try and halp Alex find a 'cure' to his female timidity.
So be it. After all, that might mean he'd bee able to get more confortable with Vanessa, not the women shirker he still seemed to be. He suddenly felt he actually WANTED to see Leeds again, wanted to feel her, smell her, hear her.
Feel her lips on him again.
Yep, no doubt about it. Good or bad, that date had opened a whole new territory.
And far be it for a RDF pilot not to explore it!