Chapter 22

"David! Hey, David! Wait up!" 

David glanced over his shoulder and spotted Lauren hustling towards him. He offered her a lopsided grin as he turned to face her. "Hi, Lauren! What's up?" 

She came up beside him. "Not much. What're you up to?" 

"Not much." David replied, shrugging. "Just wandering around the ship. Anything to get away from the paperwork for a while." 

Lauren nodded. "I can imagine. You up for some fun?" 

"I might. What did you have in mind?" 

"Well, Tony, Charles and I were going to head into Macross and see what we could get into..." She was watching him with a hopeful expression. 

David nodded. "I see. Well, that would be a great way to get away from my paperwork for a while. Count me in." 

She smiled. "Good. We're meeting outside the White Dragon Restaurant at 1900 hours. I have to go and get ready. Don't be late." 

"I won't." he replied as she turned and headed back the way she had come. He sighed. <Well, at least now I don't have to find something to do tonight.> 

[] 

"So, anything specific you want to do, boss?" Tony asked, leaning back in his chair. 

David favored him with an innocent gaze. "Who, me? Hell, I'm just a poor old country boy lost in the big city." He chuckled. "This is your party, Tony. I'm just along for the ride." 

Tony sighed. "Sure, right, make me do all the work." His face split into a wide grin. "We could always go to the Bamboo House." 

"Oh, not the disco!" Lauren moaned. Charles simply shook his head. 

"Perhaps we should start out with something less.... chaotic?" David commented, unable to hide a smile. "After all, we are on call tonight. If we went to the disco we'd never hear the alert sirens." 

"Some people just don't appreciate the wonders of life." Tony sighed to himself. 

David chuckled. "Picky, picky, picky" 

"I would hardly consider a disco to be a 'wonder of life', Tony." Charles interjected quietly. 

"Funny guy." Tony scratched his chin. "We could always go window shopping..." 

Lauren's eyes lit up. "That sounds like a good idea." 

"There's that new arcade over by the barracks compound." Charles suggested. 

David cleared his throat. "What say we just wander the streets for a while and see what catches our eye?" 

"Sold!" Tony slapped the table and stood up. 

David smiled and also stood, quickly smoothing and straightening his uniform. "Lead on, oh mighty one." 

"When's that inspection again?" Charles inquired as he hauled himself out of his chair. 

"Tomorrow morning at 0700." Tony answered, giving David a humorous glance. "Rumor has it that the Commander just wants to see if David can iron his uniform." 

"Ha ha." David drawled. "Now who's being a funny guy?" 

Tony grinned. "Well, that's the rumor..." 

"Oh, just shut up and get moving." 

After several hours worth of window shopping and sight seeing, David and the rest of Gamma Wing found themselves at an open-air food court, surrounded by vendors selling all manner of international cuisine. Charles and Lauren were arguing over possesion of a small cardboard bucket of chicken chow mein, and David was chewing on a bread stick, watching Tony in bored fascination as the younger man finished off yet another hot dog. 

"How many of those things can you eat?" David asked. 

Tony smiled as he dabbed at the corners of his mouth. "I don't know. How many are you willing to buy?" 

"Is that a dare?" Charles inquired, reaching for his wallet. "I've got a few bucks on me." 

"Me too." Lauren giggled. "I've got a twenty. How 'bout you, David?" 

David shook his head, trying hard not to laugh. "No thanks, I'd rather not throw my money into Tony's stomach. If you two want to, though, please - be my guest." 

"Well, I'm not one to back down from a challenge, so I'll just see what Tony can pack away." Lauren smirked, standing and heading over to the hot dog vendor's cart. 

David watched her go, then turned to face Tony. "So, buddy, where's Chris? I figured you'd arranged a rendezvous or something." 

Tony shrugged. "Everybody needs a day off now and then. Keeps things from getting stale." 

"Meaning she had other plans." Charles stage-whispered. 

"Just because we don't spend every free hour together does not mean that we're not serious about our relationship." Tony snapped. 

"Calm down, Tony." David spoke quietly, laying a hand on his friend's arm. "It's nothing to get miffed over." 

"Yeah, I guess..." Tony replied, slowly shaking his head. "It's been a long day... real long." 

<Trouble in paradise?> David's eyebrows inched upwards. "What's wrong?" 

"I'd rather not talk about it." Tony mumbled. 

David glanced at Charles, who shrugged. "Ooookay." David sighed. "Well, my door's always open if you decide that you do want to talk, okay?" 

Tony managed a grim smile. "You betcha, boss." 

Lauren sidled back over to the table. "Here you go Tony, a dozen dogs. So put your money where your mouth is." 

David laughed. "Tony, I hope you have a big appetite." 

"I don't know, Lauren. You shoulda bought a couple more." Tony commented dryly. "This here is barely enough to put a dent in my appeti-" Everyone's head's came up as the scramble klaxon started shrieking it's piercing wail, and an indistinct female voice began speaking over the PA system. "All fighter pilots, red alert. All fighter pilots, red alert. This is not a drill. Red alert." 

"Aw shit." Tony grumbled, grabbed several hot dogs and jumping to his feet. 

"Somebody grab a damned taxi!" David shouted as the group ran towards the street. Other pilots poured out of buildings and alleys, forming into a seething mass of bodies, all racing to hitch a ride to the launch decks. 

David finished zipping up his flight harness as he reached his Valkyrie. Tom Charter was standing there, talking to several technicians. "Hey, Tom! Is this bird ready to go or what?" David asked as he came up to them. 

Tom looked up. "What? Oh, yeah. Just got done with the routine maintenance run-though. She's all ready." 

"Good. I'll try not to dent her this time." David joked, reaching for the ladder. 

"Hmmm? Oh, ok. You do that." Tom said, engrossed in something on his clipboard. 

<Brother...he's really out of it today. Oh well.> David strapped himself into his seat and activated the power systems. After double-checking all the mecha's systems, he toggled his comm line. "This is Black Thirteen. Taxiing to elevators." David sighed as he brought his Valkyrie up to the aircraft elevator. <Here we go again.> 

"You're one lucky s.o.b., Charles." Tony muttered, waggling a finger in Charles' face as they walked up to the barracks. "Pulling a stunt like that in a combat situation! What the hell were you thinking?" 

"It seemed like a good idea at the time." Charles retorted. "And it worked, didn't it?" 

Tony was almost shouting. "Yes it worked! Just be glad that the aliens weren't a little smarter, or they'd've had your ass for breakfast! And mine too!" 

David stepped up to the arguing pair. "That's enough Tony." He turned to face Charles. "Listen, the whole idea of being in a Wing is to work _WITH_ your wingmates, not to go off galavanting around the cosmos all by yourself. Understand?" 

"Yes, Sergeant." Charles answered sullenly. 

David shook his head. "Charles, a certain amount of creativity is necessary in a good pilot. Being able to get yourself out of a rough situation, being able to think fast, stuff like that. Going after a squad of pods all by yourself isn't being creative - that's stupid. What's worse, you left Tony all alone - a definite no-no in anybody's book." 

"But-" Charles started to protest. 

David raised a hand. "I don't wanna hear it. You got lucky. That formation broke apart instead of turning and filling you full of holes. _AND_ the bandit Tony was fighting was a horrible shot. You got lucky, no one got killed, so I'll go a bit easy on you." He tapped Charles' chest with a finger. "I'm going to assign you and Tony some more time in the simulators, so you can learn more teamwork. Got it?" 

"Yes, Sergeant." 

"I'll have to decide whether to report your actions or not." David softened his expression. "But that can wait. It's been a long day. Go get yourself some sleep." Charles nodded once, curtly, and headed for the barracks entrance. 

"I still can't believe he did that." Tony muttered angrily. 

David sighed. "I know. He knows better, or at least I thought he did. I doubt he'll do it again, though." 

"For his sake, and mine, I hope so." Tony looked at him. "So, you going to write him up?" 

"Not this time." David admitted. "If he does it again, that's another story." 

Tony stretched his arms over his head. "God, I'm bushed." 

David thumped him on the shoulder. "Well then, Sergeant, I suggest you go get some sleep." 

"You'd better get some too - we've got that inspection in the morning." 

"Don't remind me." David moaned, smiling. "Okay, well, I'll see you then, okay?" 

"You bet." Tony replied. "If I can get my ass outta bed that early." 

David chuckled. "If I can do it, you can do it." David feigned a scowl. "And you'd better do it, you idiot, or I'll track your ass down, got it?" 

Tony saluted. "Yes, sir!" 

"I could get to like that..." 

"Yeah, right." Tony drawled. "Night, David." 

David waited until Tony had vanished from sight, then began shuffling towards his own room. <God, what a night.> 

Forward to Chapter 23. 
Back to Chapter 21. 

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