Chapter 21

The barracks compound loomed large in front of them as David and Vanessa approached, deep into a discussion about the alien enemy's tactics and seemingly chaotic strategy. "It just doesn't make any sense." David was saying, his hands gesturing wildly. "They attack, we counter-attack, they pull back. They attack again, and get slaughtered. Then they attack AGAIN and are on the verge of overwhelming us, and they pull back... again." He threw up his hands. "It doesn't make any sense!" 

Laying a hand on his arm, Vanessa couldn't quite suppress a chuckle. "David, calm down. It won't do anyone any good to have you burst a blood vessel before the aliens can shoot you, now will it?" 

"I guess not." His eyebrows came up. "Before they can shoot me? Are you trying to tell me something?" He raised his eyes to the holographic night sky, his voice dripping mock anguish. "She wants me dead. Oh, the agony!" 

She laughed and slugged him in the shoulder. "You idiot, I was joking!" 

"Ouch! Hey, don't be beating up on me!" He rubbed his shoulder. "Now I'm gonna have another bruise to explain to my boss." 

"I'm sure Commander Landers would understand." she giggled, glancing at the building that they were approaching. "Well, looks like we're here." She turned her eyes to David, her expression unreadable. "Thanks for everything, David. You're a great friend." 

He bowed deeply, saying, "It was my pleasure, dear lady." He smiled. "Besides, it's always a good thing to kiss up to your superiors." He tossed her a mock salute. "Right, Ensign Leeds?" 

She rolled her eyes. "You bet, Sergeant. I'd ask you in, but you know the regulations about having visitors of the opposite sex after lights out." 

He nodded. "No problem. I've got to get me some sleep anyway." He glanced at his watch. "Well what do you know? I might actually get six hours of sleep tonight!" 

Vanessa stepped forward and kissed him on the cheek. "Take care, David." 

"I always do. See you later." He waited until she had entered the building, then turned and began walking towards the men's barracks. He hadn't gotten very far when a figure stepped out of the shadows in front of him. He recognized her immediately. "Kim?" 

Kim Young stepped towards him, further into the light. "Hi David." 

"What the heck are you doing out here?" 

"Waiting for you, actually." A faint blush came to her cheeks. "I mean, well, I wanted to ask you a question about Vanessa." 

<Vanessa? Oooookay.> "Ask away." 

"She's been acting strange today." She shook her head, concern evident on her features. "Do you know why?" 

<Yep, I sure do. I think.> He sighed. "I can't say." 

"What? Why not?" 

"I gave her my word that I wouldn't tell anyone." He shrugged. "I plan on keeping that promise." 

"Then you _DO_ know what's up with her?" She stepped closer, her tone pleading. 

"Couldn't you at least give me a hint?" 

"No, I can't. I'm sorry. I wish I could, but I promised." Kim stood silently for a moment. 

"It has something to do with that Lieutenant in your squadron, doesn't it? That one that had Vanessa in tears at the party." 

<My squadron? She must mean Lieutenant Fate. Why would she think it had something to do with her?> "Why do you think that?" 

"Because I saw her and Vanessa go into a room together." She looked into his eyes. "After that, Vanessa was almost hyperactive. Smiling and carrying on and laughing and, well, you get the idea. It was unnerving. I've never seen her so... so..." 

"Bubbly?" he offered, remembering his own observation earlier in the evening. 

"Yes - bubbly." She frowned. "It's not like her to get so excited over anything. She's normally so calm." David thought for a moment. 

<She met with Lieutenant Fate, eh? Maybe the Lieutenant _IS_ the one behind a lot of this. But why? Oh well, I'll worry about that later.> He placed a hand on Kim's shoulder. "Listen, I can't tell you what happened or anything like that, but I can tell you that it's nothing serious." <Maybe.> "She just... well... she has reason to be happy, that's all. Don't knock it. It's hard enough to find good news these days." 

Kim mulled this over. "You're not going to tell me?" 

"If it was something life-threatening, or if she was in some sort of trouble, I'd tell you in a minute." He paused, more for dramatic effect than anything else. "What kind of friend would I be if I revealed all of her secrets? Secrets that I promised not to tell?" 

Sighing, she stepped back. "I sure hope you're right about this." 

"I am." David said with more confidence than he felt. "Now, I don't want to be rude, but I have an appointment with my bunk, and I hear it calling my name." 

She offered him a weary smile. "Yeah, it's been a long day for me, too. Well, I'll see you later, I guess." 

"You bet." He waved and strolled past her, not bothering to look back to see if she was still there or not, more interested in sleep than anything else. Everything else could wait until morning. 

[] 

<In space, no one can hear you scream.> David mused, glancing around the cockpit of his Valkyrie as Gamma Wing orbitted the SDF-1, coming around to flank an enemy formation. A brief cry of pain erupted from the speakers, but was cut off in mid-shriek. <Unless of course, you're tied into the communications net.> "Gamma Wing, Sweep Right formation, accelerate to attack speed." He quickly checked his radar. "Everybody stay frosty, we're going in!" 

They dove into the melee, slashing into the enemy formations from the side, catching many of them off guard. The enemy was quick to respond and soon David found himself being pursued by three fighter pods. Tony and Charles were locked in a furious dog-fight with two enemy pods, but seemed to be holding their own. Satisfied, David directed his concentration to his immediate dilema. He jinked his fighter hard, trying to throw off the enemy's aim. Cursing as several shots punctured his left wing, David rolled hard right, kicking in the afterburners. "Lauren, where are you?" 

"Lining up behind them, David. I've almost got a lock." 

"You'd better hurry. These guys are getting to close for comfort." 

He heard Commander Landers shouting over the tactical net, chanting her now familiar mantra - "You're not in atmosphere, you idiots! So don't fly like you are!" 

David sighed. <Why didn't I think of that before? Must be getting old.> "Lauren, I'm gonna do a kick-turn and come back your way. Get ready." He didn't hear her acknowledgement, cutting the throttle to zero and engaging the Valkyrie's maneuvering thrusters. The fighter pitched wildly around it's center of gravity, coming around so that it was facing his pursuers while inertia kept the Valkyrie moving in the same direction that it had been going before the move. The three alien pods broke formation immediately, each racing in a different direction. "Smile for the birdie, asshole!" he grunted, targetting one of the fleeing pods. He squeezed the firing trigger, holing the pod in half a dozen places. He quickly targetted another pod and fired, missing by a narrow margin. The pods accelerated and quickly disappeared from view. <Dammit! That was an easy shot, too!> 

The third pod got off several shots before it exploded, having taken a missile from Lauren's fighter. David was about to congratulate her when his Valkyrie bucked hard, the air rushing out of his cockpit in an explosive rush. He felt his pressure suit tighten around him. "Damn!" he shouted, ramming the throttle forward and ducking out of the way of an enemy officer's pod as it screamed past, spewing death. 

"David!" Lauren was shouting. "David, are you all right?" 

He quickly surveyed the damage. "I'm okay, Lauren. Nothing serious, I just lost pressurization in the cockpit. No systems disabled." He looked around. "Form up on my left wing, we're heading back to fetch Tony and Charles." "You got it." 

He hauled himself out of the cockpit with a groan. <God, I'm getting to old for this crap.> Quickly looking through the chaos around him, he spotted Tom Charter walking among Black Squadron's Valkyries, directing repair teams to the more badly damaged craft. "Hey, Tom!" David shouted. 

Tom glanced up and grimmaced. He walked over and eyed David's Valkyrie sourly. "What the hell happened to you?" 

David jumped down to the deck and sighed. "I got shot, that's what." He turned to survey the damage. A ragged tear had been opened up along the port side of the cockpit, exposing blackened circuitry and control wires. <Oooh, that could've hurt had it been a bit higher.> He turned back the the frowning chief technician. "So, can you fix it?" 

"Can I fix it? What do you mean, 'Can I fix it'?" Tom shook his head. "They pay me to fix it, you idiot! Lucky for you I'm in a good mood or I'd make _YOU_ fix it! Now get outta here!" 

"Whatever you say, Tom." David beat a hasty retreat, heading for the personnel elevators. 

David was in his room, filling out a stack of after-action reports and other insundry paperwork, when someone knocked on his door. He leaned back from his desk and called out "It's open!" 

The door swung aside and Tony walked in. "Ho, boss." 

"Ho yourself, Tony." David replied with a smile. "What's on your mind?" 

Tony leaned against the wall. "I got a message that you wanted to see me." 

"Oh, yes." David collected his thoughts for a moment before continuing. "Tony, you and Chris have been seeing a lot of each other lately, right?" 

Tony stiffened. "Yes... why?" 

David smiled. "Relax, Tony, I'm not going to tell you to stop or anything like that. I wanted to ask you about Canberra's." 

"Oh, is that all?" Tony's face split into a wide grin. "What do you want to know?" 

"To put it bluntly, how the hell can you afford to eat at that place so often on a military salary?" 

After he had stopped laughing, Tony leaned close. "I'll tell you a secret - my brother works there." 

"What?" 

"My older brother, Lenny. He works there. He's the head waiter. He gets me in for free, and I get a big discount on the food." Tony shook his head. "What, you plan on taking Vanessa there?" 

<I wish.> "Not quite, I wanted to take a friend there, more to apologize for being an idiot than anything else." 

"A lady friend?" 

"Of course a lady friend!" David blurted. "Can you talk to your brother for me, maybe get me a reservation?" 

"For when? He'd want to know." David thought for a minute. "Ah, better make it for tomorrow night." 

"You got it. I'll talk to him and let you know. See you later, boss." He paused at the door. "Oh, by the way, Commander Landers caught me down in the ready room. She wanted me to tell you that we're having an inspection tomorrow morning. She said something along the lines of sticking you on KP for the rest of your life is she sees so much as a single wrinkle on you, or something like that." 

David grinned. "Thanks for the warning, Tony. I'll make sure I'm wrinkle-free, okay?" 

"Okay, boss. I'll get back to you about Canberra's. See ya!" David chuckled to himself as Tony shut the door behind himself. He stood up and walked over to the closet. He opened the door and pulled out a uniform encased in plastic wrap. The uniform had been pressed and starched, all the buttons polished, and the creases were as sharp as the dry cleaners could make them. "If this doesn't pass inspection, I don't know what will." He turned looked at the stack of paperwork that sat on his desk. "Ah, screw it. I'll take care of that later." He picked up a small slip of paper, his "Things To Do" list for the day. "I'll take care of this stuff first." 

The first thing on his list was a phone call. He found a private booth and called the operator. A man's face appeared on the vid screen. "Name of the party you're calling, please." he asked blandly. 

"Sergeant Tamara Sam'di, please." 

"Could you spell the last name, sir?" the operator asked. 

David hesitated. "I have no idea. But she lives at 716 Cerulean Street. Apartment seven." 

A scowl. "Just a moment, sir." He typed something into his keyboard. "I have the number sir, patching you through now." The image cut off. 

"Thanks!" David said cheerily to the blank screen, his nervousness growing rapidly. What if Tamara didn't want to talk to him? What if she didn't want to go out? What if she wouldn't let him apologize? What if, what if, what if. David sighed. <What if's will get you every time.> The screen flickered and Tamara's face appeared. She looked tired. "Hello?" She blinked. "Oh, hello David." 

David smiled. "Hi, Tamara. How you doing?" 

She shrugged. "Fine, I guess. You?" "I'm okay. Ah, listen... I've got a question for you." 

Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Like what?" 

David fought down a surge of fear. <She can't bite you through a phone, David. Calm down!> "Uh.... well, I wanted to ask if you'd be willing to go out with me tomorrow." 

She paused, her eyes glancing to the side. "Go out with you? I don't know...." 

<Talk fast, boy!> "Tamara, listen. I know that we had a bit of an ugly start, and I want to apologize for that." He sighed. "I'd like to start all over again, so to speak, to get a fresh start. If you're willing, of course." he added quickly. "I admit that I was an asshole that day when we first met." 

Someone in Tamara's apartment made a comment that David couldn't quite hear, and Tamara again glanced off to the side. To David she said "Go on." 

"If you're not doing anything tomorrow night, I'd like to take you out, go to a restaurant, so we can talk and smooth things over." He forced a reassuring smile, his nervousness threatening to overwhelm him. "So what do you say?" 

Tamara sighed. "Alright, I'll go." She seemed to be mulling something over. "We do need to talk. Give me a call before you come over." 

"You got it." He reached out to terminate the connection. "And thanks." 

"Yeah." She cut the connection. 

"Could've been worse." he mumbled, stepping out of the booth. 

The florist's shop was his next stop, and he arranged for a bundle of flowers to be delivered to Tamara's apartment the next afternoon. He picked out a card depicting a rather sorrowful looking guy standing outside a closed door, with the words "I'm sorry." plastered along the bottom in large letters. He quickly scribbled a message on the inside of the card and sealed it. <Well, that's two. One stop left to make.> 

Raul McMahon was busy poking through the insides of a laptop computer when David walked through the front door. He glanced up and straightened. "Ah, you're here. Good." 

"So, did you find anyone that can help me?" 

Raul wiped his hands off with a rag. "As a matter of fact I did." He glanced around. "You're supposed to meet with one of them in the park, by the fountain, this afternoon at fourteen hundred." 

"How will I recognize the person I'm meeting?" David asked. Raul coughed. "well, they said that they'll know _YOU_, if you know what I mean." 

"I see." David smiled. "Thanks a lot, Mr. McMahon. You're assistance has been invaluable." 

"Anything to help the authorities, sir. I hope you catch that murderer and string him up by his balls." 

David was sitting on a park bench at fourteen hundred hours, impatiently drumming his fingers on the simulated wood slats. <Hmmmm.... nobody here yet. I guess they're not going to show. Oh well, it was worth a try.> 

"Mind if I sit down, Mr. Marshall?" David jumped in surprise, glancing up and seeing a tall, skinny young man towering over him. He was dressed in civilian clothing, his hair neatly combed. An ordinary-looking guy, all things considered. "I asked if I could sit down." 

David cleared his throat. "Ah, well, I'm waiting for someone to... wait a minute, how did you know my name?" 

The young man sat down. "That should be obvious, Mr Marshall. You wanted to contact us, and we responded." <Us? Oh, OH! Okay.> "We know you're not connected to the military police or civilian authorities." 

David felt the color rush to his cheeks. "Ah, yeah, well, it seemed like a good idea at the time." 

"So what did you want, Mr Marshall?" 

David blinked several times. "Ah, I need some information on two people." 

"Who?" the man asked bluntly. 

<Maybe this isn't such a good idea. Oh well, too late now.> "Ah, Lieutenant (jg) Izabelle Fate, and a Lieutenant Thallin Braywater." He paused. "And a deceased pilot, Christina Leeds, who died in the battle over Macross Island." 

"That's three people, Mr Marshall." 

He coughed nervously. "I know. Ah, well, ah, can you help me?" 

The young man was silent for a moment. "I think we can reach a mutually profittable agreement." 

<Uh oh, here comes the bill.> "Ah, what do you require in return?" 

The young man stood up. "When we decide, we'll contact you." 

"When will I hear from you again? About that information, I mean." 

"You'll hear from us when we decide to contact you, Mr Marshall." With that, the young man turned and walked away. 

<What the hell have I gotten myself into here?> David wondered, staring after the young man. 

Forward to Chapter 22. 
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