Elise's mouth hung open until she finally blurted out, "A lovely evening?!? What kinda bulls—"
"Shhh," Oscar hushed, then pressed a finger to his lips, "How about a trade?"
"...I'm listening."
"I gave you my secret yesterday, how about you give me yours and I'll throw in what happened last night?"
Elise shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She was curious about what Oscar did last night, but not to the point of talking about her past, even if it was related to Dirk. Elise was originally going to tell Oscar just that Dirk saved her from a party, but maybe it was time to let things out a little.
"I... I used to party as a teen, a lot. I loved dancing! My friends and I would get into clubs and raves, and we would meet boys and have them buy us drinks, normal girl stuff, right?" Elise said with a forced smile. "Right after high school graduation, three of us went to a party for rich kids and military brats that I was invited to thanks to my family. My two friends were not feeling comfortable, but I told them to just forget about it and dance. I remember one of my friends handed me a drink, and I trusted her, so I drank it."
Oscar held his hand up for her to stop because he could guess what would happen after this and didn't need to hear it.
"No... I think I need to get this off my chest. Only Dirk and my brother know about this and they will treat me like a fragile little girl until I face this!" Elise was starting to get angry at herself for not realizing it sooner.
"So...yeah, I drank, danced, and the room spun. My friend who gave me the drink disappeared, and my other friend had already fallen over. I tried to leave but was lost. I saw Louis and Dirk, wanted to reach them, but felt weightless, then was carried away. I drifted in and out of consciousness. When I woke up, I was aching, my clothes were torn, my underwear gone, and I smelled blood."
Oscar didn't want to believe that in such an enclosed environment as City 8, people would still do this to each other.
"Lying there, I heard fighting and a familiar voice screaming my name. I tried to yell I'M HERE, but nothing came out. The noises stopped, and I felt myself being cradled. The man felt warm and safe. I clung to him, still screaming I'M HERE inside. As I was carried out, my senses slowly returned. I saw my brother aiming a blaster at several men, with others already down and bruised."
Elise started to smile a little now, "When I finally looked up, I saw it was Dirk carrying me. His face..." Elise started to cry and laugh softly, "You should've seen his face! It was like a swollen pufferfish! He didn't think and went in swinging. His knuckles were bashed and bleeding. I don't know how many guys he went through, but Dirk fought for me. My other friend was sitting on the ground with someone's coat wrapped around her, but Dirk wouldn't put me down until the ambulance arrived."
Oscar smiled a little bit, trying to picture Dirk's face all swollen, but he felt like that was something Dirk would do since he had a strong sense of justice and would act without thinking sometimes.
"So my friend and I were put in the same hospital room, and we just laid there in silence. I was angry, I wanted to see everyone responsible burn in a fire. I thought that with my family name and Grandfather being in charge of Macross 8's military, the military police would thoroughly investigate the case and we would rest easy knowing the bastards were behind bars."
Oscar thought carefully for a moment and figured he should've heard about such an insane event within such a relatively small population on City 8 of around 400,000 by now, but the entire Macross 8 fleet exceeded one million people. The highest-ranking military officer and the Mayor of City 8 held the most power. "Your Grandfather is General Maddox?"
Elise nodded, "The party was held by all of the elites, being marked as a criminal or a victim was a shame on the Maddox family. I was questioned, but I was unconscious for almost all of it. I couldn't remember their faces, but I knew my brother and Dirk would help. Unfortunately, it never made it to trial because Dirk and my brother didn't actually see it happen. The ones that Dirk beat up and my brother held up claimed they were just partying and had no idea that I was even in the room they were standing next to."
Oscar had a million questions about the case because he was invested now, but sometimes it was better to just listen. "So nobody was arrested?" he asked.
"Nope, but my brother used his authority to find that six boys were dismissed from the military academy shortly after that and have since disappeared from City 8. Does this mean they were killed, in hiding, or permanently assigned to the farming ship? I don't know, I've lived in fear that one of those men could be right around the corner and waiting for me to let my guard down. I am tired of it."
Oscar reached out and patted Elise on the arm, "Have you told Dirk or your parents about this?"
Elise glanced towards the second shuttle Dirk was piloting, sighed, then said, "Why? He knows all about it. My parents died after I was born in an accident, and I'm confident my Grandfather, the perfect General Maddox, helped cover it up."
"I don't mean about the event, I meant how you feel."
"Of course..." Elise let her words trail off before she continued, "No, I really didn't. Do I have like a Princess fantasy about Dirk where he is my white knight? Is that why I like him? I just thought of him as my brother's friend before all of this. He doesn't even dance! Does he know how much I love dancing? Does he know anything about me? Would he even like me? Do I know anything about him? Should I —"
Oscar gently shook Elise, "Slow down. Breathe."
Elise stopped talking and just breathed for a few seconds.
"Better?"
Elise nodded.
"Good, now, I know this is going to sound silly, but have you tried asking him out seriously?"
"Well, no, he would say No, he's shot me down for everything else."
Oscar frowned, "Even if that worked, would you have wanted a relationship based on that? Ask him on a normal date, somewhere with music and dancing, so you both have something to work with. Luckily for you, music and dancing work well together. And dress cute, something that says you want to leave a good impression with not only him but also his parents."
"I can... I can do that."
"Good, now let me recommend a place."
Elise completely forgot to ask Oscar about General Adra. She chatted with Oscar about Dirk the rest of the short flight to Macross 8.
After landing, General Maddox stood tall and imposing next to the landing ramps while the deck crew started unloading the shuttles, "Lieutenant Millo! Lieutenant Maddox! Front and center!"
Dirk and Elise scrambled to stand in front of General Maddox and salute while Oscar, Roy, and Lyle escaped to the lockers.
"At ease! Now! What did you two do wrong!?" General Maddox bellowed.
"Sir! We brought civies on a mission, sir!" Dirk shouted.
"Correct! What is the standard protocol when we meet another Macross fleet?"
Dirk started sweating because he wasn't sure what the standard protocol was, since the number of known instances could be counted on one hand. He also lost his focus because he saw Roy stop and salute his squad leader, Helena. Thankfully, Dirk also saw Oscar and Lyle pull him away.
Elise spoke up and shouted, "Sir! Our standard protocol is to keep the fold drives warm and stop all civilian interfleet traffic in case we need to declare a state of emergency and commence a space fold, sir!"
"Good! Now, you are VERY lucky that the ban was lifted last night. Lieutenant Maddox, your punishment will be laundry duty tonight! Lieutenant Millo, you will receive extra G-force training and extra cardio training! Isn't that better than being suspended?"
"Sir, yes sir!" Dirk and Elise shouted in unison.
General Maddox turned towards the Helena and barked, "Captain Stark!"
Helena hastily trotted towards General Maddox, briefly saluted, then loudly stated, "Captain Stark, reporting, sir!"
"Your squadmate, Lieutenant Millo, needs some extra training. Give him up to 9 Gs for twice as long as usual. Once done, have him run until he drops or reaches the end of your shift."
"Consider it done, sir!" Helena stated and saluted.
General Maddox saluted Helena casually and then walked off muttering to himself.
As soon as General Maddox left hearing range, Helena turned to Dirk and said, "You could've asked me for help! We're squadmates!"
Dirk scratched the back of his head and said, "Sorry, I thought you might try to stop us from going to that concert."
"You'd be correct! I do not want this squad being dragged down by you!" Helena realized she was gripping Dirk's flight suit and released him, then added, "Meet me in the West Point-class training ship in less than an hour!"
Elise realized she got off easy again, since laundry was literally collecting dirty clothes in the hampers and tossing them into the washing machine. She waved to Dirk and Helena, then teased both of them by saying, "Guess I only have to do some laundry later, you two enjoy your date, and Dirk, I'll call you and ask about it later."
Dirk and Helena exchanged glances and said simultaneously, "What date?!?"