What if Lisa had entered the Miss Macross Contest?

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CHAPTER 4

Adrenaline

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The music started to play and the curtain of the Miss Macross beauty pageant slowly rose. On the stage, 29 aspiring beauty queens waited with their hearts at their throats. Among them, the usually brave Commander Lisa Hayes stood trembling.

"I can't believe this... this is not happening. I am NOT in a beauty pageant!" she thought in panic. But it was happening. There she was: the RDF's candidate, number seven in order of appearance.

Rick made it to his seat barely on time. He had not been able to find Minmei backstage, but he was not disappointed. His little dressing room adventure had got him to see and talk to Lisa Hayes. In fact, he got quite a view of her. He felt his cheeks burning when he remembered her sexy dress. That did not slip unnoticed by Ben, Max and Roy. They were about to fire questions in his direction when, luckily, the stage curtain rose.

Lisa's hands were like ice cubes when she took her position behind the curtain. "You can do this," she thought. Just like Claudia had told her. "You can do this." She held on to that phrase like a mantra. The message did not seem to have reached her shaky legs.

She closed her eyes, inhaled and held her breath for a second. She wondered how did Jan Morris and that girl, Minmei, did it? They both waited calmly and confidently close by.

"If they can do it, so can I," she told herself.

"And now, let me introduce candidate number seven," announced the host.

"This is it," thought Lisa and felt the adrenaline rushing through her. She stood still but at the last possible second she found the self-confidence necessary to walk down the stage.

"Passionate to protect the citizens of Macross City, this emerald-eyed beauty comes to us directly from the SDF-1's bridge. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Miss Lisa Hayes!" the host finished.

The RDF's candidate walked the length of the stage. Her steps were neither too fast nor too slow; they were just right for letting the crowd take her in. She stood in front of the microphone and time seemed to stop. She took a deep breath and, just by chance, she seemed to distinguish a face in the crowd. Was it Lieutenant Hunter? All her attention focused on him. She could not hear the crowd's loud roar anymore; only her own racing heartbeat echoed within her ears.

"Hi... I am Lisa Hayes," she said trembling almost unnoticeably. She breathed once more. "And... I am proud to represent the Robotech Defense Forces."

A wild cheer welcomed her. She saw Rick Hunter smiling widely and she could not help smiling back at him.

Rick's heart jumped when he saw Lisa appear on the stage. He stood up and cheered for her like a mad man. He saw her smiling before turning away. Did she see him? Did she smile at him? Secretly, he wished she did.

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On the bridge, Claudia, Kim, Vanessa and Sammie stood crammed in front of a monitor. They were nervous for Lisa and, when the candidate spoke, they cheered as if they were in the auditorium's front row.

Claudia felt proud of her best friend. She knew Lisa's new "mission" had just started. And, once a mission was given to Commander Hayes, only two things could happen: she would complete it, or she would die trying. Claudia could not contain a faint chuckle when she realized embarrassment was not about to kill Lisa; at least, not until the swimsuit competition.

"I can't wait to see the judges faces when they see Lisa in her bikini," said Sammie grinning proudly. After all, she had chosen it for her. "She has to win!" she added.

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After all 29 candidates were introduced, Lisa found herself backstage once more. She had noticed Lieutenant Hunter cheering for his "friend" Minmei, but she thought he did not cheer as much as he had done for her. Was she imagining that? Her mind could be playing tricks on her. Anyway, she should not care; she did not even like that loud-mouthed pilot. But, he had saved her life on Mars and for once, he was nice to her when they met backstage. Maybe he was not that bad after all. She owed him the benefit of the doubt. Was she starting to like him? "No. Definitely no," she scolded herself.

She shook her head to focus on more important matters. Her first encounter with the stage was over, but the worse was yet to come. She had to find the grit to put on the now infamous purple bikini and face the crowd in it.

"Heaven help me," she pleaded.

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"So, Rick, which one is your favorite so far?" asked Roy teasingly during the interlude. Rick only managed to babble in confusion.

"Yeah, boss, who is your favorite now?" joined in Ben.

"I think I know," said Max. "Judging from the way the Lieutenant cheered..."

"I got to go to the bathroom," interrupted Rick and fled the scene. Max and Ben chuckled loudly.

"Oh, little brother, you are falling hard for the Commander," thought Roy amused.

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After checking that her bikini was in fact covering all essentials, Lisa promptly looked to wrap herself in a robe. Unfortunately, she found none. There was not much material in her tiny attire and there was nowhere to hide. That realization caused a second wave of panic to go through her.

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Thousands of witnesses were rendered speechless when contestant number seven arrived on stage for the swimsuit competition. Years later, when Rick, Roy and Max remember that particular scene, they will talk about it as an event that changed the course of history. It had indeed, particularly for young Rick Hunter.

Rick saw most of the competition but had to leave abruptly before the end. After all, he was on call that night, and Claudia's voice paging him through the SDF-1's intercom system had reminded him and informed the entire ship about that fact.

"Damn timing!" he cursed under his breath and reluctantly left his seat to report. It had happened right in the middle of Commander Hayes' interview. The host asked her about the war with the Zentraedi and its huge toll on the lives of the citizens of Macross. She replied by reminding everyone that the RDF had not provoked the Zentraedi. All aboard the SDF-1 were victims of an unjustified alien attack. Negotiations had been impossible and there was no alternative but to defend themselves. Freedom, peace and ultimately, survival were at stake.

"Paging Lieutenant Rick Hunter. Paging Lieutenant Rick Hunter. I remind you that you are on call tonight. Report to the bridge immediately. I repeat, report to the bridge immediately," Commander Grant's voice echoed.

"That did it! Now Commander Hayes is never going to look back at me!" Rick thought embarrassed. Being caught playing hooky was not going to improve the tarnished image she had of him.

Lisa stood silent and frowned. "I can't believe this," she thought angrily.

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Rick rushed out and within minutes he was receiving orders from the bridge. What appeared to be a Zentraedi ship had been detected inside the SDF-1's safety perimeter. He was handed the assignment of getting visual confirmation of the alien craft's presence. He ran as fast as he could and got into his veritech. He approached the co-ordinates of the suspected boogie and, to his dismay, he discovered the radar signal had been jammed.

Thousands of battlepods had gathered around several mother ships. That could only mean one thing: they were going to attack the battle fortress once again. "Don't you Zentraedi ever take a break?" he wondered looking at the horrific image. He turned back and warned the bridge to prepare for a full-scale attack. He was not fast enough.

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Meanwhile at the contest, the judges' votes were counted. The names of three lucky finalists were called. "Finalist number one: Miss Jan Morris!" announced the host. "Finalist number two: Miss Lisa Hayes," she added. "And last, but not least, finalist number three: Miss Lynn Minmei."

Lisa couldn't believe it. She made it to the final three. It seemed unreal. The sudden whistling of the SDF-1's alarms froze all Macross' inhabitants, including those gathered inside the auditorium. The attack had started.

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Captain Gloval ran into the bridge.

"Status report," he yelled.

"We are surrounded, Captain," said Vanessa nervous.

The radar was covered with blinking dots. Each represented an enemy battlepod.

"Three motherships are approaching fast," said Sammie.

"Order the veritech squadrons out," said the Captain. "Claudia, page Lisa. We need her now," he added.

"Yes sir," said Claudia, paging the Commander.

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Soldiers rushed to their battle stations while civilians ran for cover. Lisa's training kicked in as she organized the improvised evacuation. She heard Claudia's call, but there was no time. She pushed several terrified candidates out while enemy rockets battered the ship. The fierce attack caused huge pieces of the battle fortress' structure to fall. Innocent bystanders were trapped and injured.

"Hang in there," said Lisa to one of the victims. "Help is on the way," she added just before a loud creak was heard and the auditorium collapsed under her.

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