When Dirk saw Elise's reply, he was surprised she didn't ask for something more extreme.
"She wants to go to the concert," Dirk said to Roy, Lyle, and Oscar.
"She can take my ticket," Oscar said, "I'm not nearly as big of a fan as you three. I would still like to go to Macross 10 though so at least take me along."
Oscar wasn't disappointed that he would miss the concert, he was disappointed that he couldn't enjoy it with his band members. He didn't join their band for the music; he joined for them.
Dirk, Lyle, and Roy sincerely appreciated Oscar since he was willing to give up his ticket easily.
Dirk also wasn't sure what Oscar's motives were in the band since he didn't seem to like rock music. He didn't bring it up yet because their fledgling band barely made any profit after ticket quotas were met. Dirk was also slightly annoyed that Oscar's face brought in most of their female fans.
Dirk managed to sneak Roy, Lyle, and Oscar on board Battle 8 without much resistance. He was surprised the guards on the ship only verified Dirk's identity while letting Roy, Lyle, and Oscar pass on by. Dirk figured this probably wouldn't be possible if they were in any military conflict.
Wearing spare jumpsuits, Oscar's fit fairly normally, but Lyle's was squeezing him all over, and Roy's looked like it was two sizes too small.
They finally reached the hangar, where a small shuttle was already waiting in the launch area.
"Hey! You're late!" shouted a voice throughout the hangar.
Elise stood waiting next to a small shuttle used to transport goods between ships within the fleet.
"Sorry Elise! We were held up!" Dirk said apologetically.
"Hurry up and get in, we don't want to get caught yet!"
Dirk wanted to yell back that saying that out loud makes it even more obvious they're doing something they shouldn't.
Dirk and company trotted towards the small shuttle and got close enough to greet Elise.
"Get in boys, pretty one can ride up front with me, the rest of you will have to fit in the back!"
With his inflated ego, Roy started climbing into the copilot's seat while Dirk, Lyle, and Oscar watched in amazement.
"Not the giraffe!" Elise complained.
Dirk and Lyle were nearly wetting themselves, trying to hide their laughter.
"Kara yar!" Roy said silently.
Elise grinned when Roy told Dirk and Lyle to die in native Zentradi. She then grabbed Oscar and pushed him toward the copilot's seat.
"Well, now we know who the pretty one is," Roy grumbled.
Dirk was a little glad Oscar was sitting with Elise instead of Roy. He is pretty confident she would abandon them on Macross 10 if Roy flirted with her too much. Dirk handed Elise a duffle bag filled with a change of clothes for himself, Lyle, Oscar, and Roy.
"Have Oscar hold these," Dirk said.
Elise nodded, then teased Dirk, "You'll like what I brought."
Dirk rolled his eyes, but he was very aware of how she looked, so that he couldn't help but silently agree that he would like it.
Roy only knew of Elise from Dirk and had never seen her. Finally seeing her, Roy could understand why Dirk hid this beautiful Zentradi woman.
"Dirk might want her for himself," Roy thought.
As they climbed into the back of the shuttle, Roy whispered to Dirk, "Do you like her? If not, put in a good word for me and gimme her contact info."
Dirk rolled his eyes. He was glad Roy at least considered his own thoughts instead of just outright asking for her information.
"She's... a very good friend, I think?" Dirk said, slightly conflicted.
Roy gave Dirk a thumbs up and then climbed into the back of the shuttle.
Unfortunately, Dirk realized the back of the shuttle was not meant for people. He watched Roy squeeze himself in to reach the front of the shuttle's hold, where a small window peeked into the cockpit.
Lyle was a little too round to fit in the back, but to Dirk's amazement, Lyle managed to flatten himself just enough to squeeze in.
The few crewmen that were around the hangar looked on in mostly amazement.
Dirk managed to squeeze in easily enough and found himself pinned between Lyle and Roy. He then pounded on the glass panel to let Elise know they were inside.
The panel slid open so Dirk, Roy, and Lyle could see into the cockpit, and the cargo hatch slowly closed behind them.
Elise pressed a few buttons on the dashboard and then pointed at a few things for Oscar to press. She didn't need him to do anything, but she really enjoyed looking at this beautiful man up close.
"You seem different than them," Elise said to Oscar while motioning towards Dirk, Lyle, and Roy's faces peering through the viewport.
Oscar laughed, "Indeed, I feel a little bit out of their group, but I genuinely want Dirk to succeed. You've heard him sing, right? His passion is contagious."
"I have, but I fell hard for him before I heard him sing," Elise said with a hint of sadness.
"You love him?" Oscar asked with a hint of concern.
Elise glanced back at Dirk and started moving the shuttle through the hangar to launch.
"It's complicated. He's the only male outside of my family that I completely trust. Why am I even telling you this?" Elise said, glancing at Oscar.
"Maybe we're kindred spirits?" Oscar said whimsically.
Elise reached over to Oscar, wrapped her arm around his neck, and pulled him in for a side hug. "I like you. We're both on team Dirk. Plus, you looked into my eyes instead of checking me out."
"Well, I do find you very attractive, but I find Dirk much more attractive. I trust you to keep that to yourself."
Elise had a very pink image of Dirk and Oscar topless together and felt a nosebleed coming, "I see what you mean by kindred spirits. We both want what we can't have."
"I get why I can't have him, but you haven't explained why you can't have him."
"He only sees me as a sister. He saved me when-"
Alarms blared throughout the hangar, indicating the deck was clear for them to launch.
"Gimme your contact info," Elise demanded, then held up her arm with her comm on it.
Oscar gently tapped his comm against hers to instantly share contact information.
Elise launched the shuttle causing her and Oscar to be pressed slightly into their seats. She turned to check on the three in the back and saw all of them pressed against the containers.
"Huh, just realized they don't have any helmets in case we lose air,"
Oscar shrugged and said, "They'd hold their breath the entire time just to make it to this concert so don't worry about it."
"You're right. We should hurry! Concert starts in..." Elise checked her comm and then swore under her breath. "Time to push it!"
Oscar tightened the restraints around himself and then sent Dirk a message to warn them they would speed up.
Dirk, Lyle, and Roy braced themselves against the shipping crates.
"Next time we're stealing a passenger shuttle!" Roy yelled at Dirk.
They could barely hear each other over the scream of the engines from the cargo hold since it was never supposed to transport people.
Oscar watched Elise push the small shuttle faster than what would be considered safe. He didn't know much about piloting, but he did understand that shutting the engines off wouldn't slow them down and that spacecraft didn't have brakes.
Oscar started to get a little nervous when they reached halfway around Planet Aquillane, and Elise was still pushing the thrusters.
They were now getting closer to the Macross 10 fleet, and Oscar felt it necessary to ask, "Shouldn't we be slowing down?"
"Normally yes, but we'll need an excuse to stay on Macross 10," Elise said with a grin. "Let the boys in the back know it's going to get hot."
Oscar's eyes went wide, and he quickly sent Dirk a message that Elise said it would get hot.
Elise had been using the gravity of Planet Aquillane to pull themselves towards the Macross 10 fleet faster than just standard thrust alone. She also knew it was dangerous since the shuttle didn't have enough thrust to escape the planet's gravity if they got too close.
"Here we go!" Elise shouted excitedly. She adjusted their angle to skim the atmosphere of Planet Aquillane.
The shuttle's computer flashed several warnings indicating that they were too shallow for reentry and would risk damaging the shuttle.
"Yep! That's the idea!" Elise punched the override indicator on the console to maintain control. She could feel the shuttle shake as it started dragging on the atmosphere. Elise pulled back on the flight stick to keep the shuttle from diving into the atmosphere.
Sweat dripped down Elise's forehead as the temperatures started climbing from the atmosphere's friction.
Elise focused intensely on the gauges and constantly corrected their course whenever needed.
A loud creaking sound echoed inside the shuttle, followed by the sound of metal tearing from somewhere.
Elise tried not to sound stressed and said, "We didn't need that... probably."
The friction from the atmosphere quickly slowed the shuttle, and now they were reduced to a speed the shuttle's thrusters would be able to stop them within a reasonable distance.
Elise pulled hard back on the flight stick and pushed the thrusters again. She fought against gravity and barely managed to escape the planet's pull.
"See? That wasn't so bad!" Elise chirped. She intentionally ignored the many warning spread across the console.
Oscar dug his fingers out from the seat and turned to see how the three in the back were doing.
The deceleration pressed Dirk, Lyle, and Roy's faces against the viewport into a wall of flesh.
Oscar laughed while Elise quickly snapped a picture of them.
The shuttle's thrusters continued to slow them down, and Elise flipped the shuttle comms on to hail Battle 10 since it was where they would make their delivery.
"Battle 10, this is shuttle Delora from Macross 8, requesting docking permission."
The comms went silent then a bored comm operator spoke, "Shuttle Delora, you're early; send your identification code, then wait for confirmation."
"Roger, transmitting now." Elise pushed a button to send their ship's identification code to Battle 10. "Also, requesting a repair crew, we got a little too close to the planet."
"Copy, sending guidance coordinates now."
Elise gave the three in the back a thumbs up to signal that they would land soon. She followed the coordinates given by Battle 10 and smoothly guided the shuttle up to the docking pad. Elise was relieved when they finally entered Battle 10's airlock and flipped a switch to extend the landing gear, leading to more console alarms.
"Whatever," Elise callously said, putting the ship down on the docking pad regardless of the landing gear.
The shuttle landed gently, then tilted to the left since one of the landing gears was damaged during Elise's maneuvering earlier.
The docking pad moved the shuttle into the hangar, where they could finally get out of the shuttle.
Elise opened the cargo hold's rear door from the cockpit, hopped out with Oscar, and ran around to see how Dirk, Lyle, and Roy were doing.
"Sweet beautiful solid ground!" Roy proclaimed. He was drenched in sweat as he laid down on the docking pad and hugged the metal ground.
Lyle popped out from the cargo hold and laid down on his back, gasping for air, also soaked with sweat.
Dirk popped out last and then fell to his knees in front of Elise. He was also covered in sweat and wanted to reach up and strangle Elise. Instead, he just reached up and gasped, "Water, shower, change of clothes, now."
Elise wanted to tease Dirk, but after inspecting the bottom of the shuttle, she was glad to see they weren't cooked alive in the cargo hold.
Most of the bottom of the shuttle's heat shielding burned away from entering the atmosphere too fast and skimming across it. The rear left landing gear fused shut from the heat even. The piece that tore off midflight looks like it was one of the smaller flaps.
While the shuttle could still fly, atmospheric reentry wouldn't be possible until somebody repaired the shuttle.
A woman's voice boomed across the hangar, "What the hell are you clowns doing on my ship?!?"
Dirk and Elise instantly recognized a general's white uniform and quickly snapped to attention while Oscar, Lyle, and Roy imitated them.
Dirk could only think, "We're screwed."