Doctor Norrid examined himself in the mirror and then adjusted his surgical mask. At the age of thirty, he was the youngest doctor currently serving City 8. Doctor Norrid thought he could become a doctor, become wealthy, find a beautiful wife, and then live happily ever after. Sadly for him, he keeps having to work during prime dating hours.
A young human male, Jack Dawson, was brought in earlier via ambulance. He was treated as if he was in critical condition, but the man's vitals were steady. Jack appeared to be somewhere between unconscious and asleep, almost like he had lost the will to live.
After the initial craze died, Doctor Norrid was left with the care and examination duty once it was determined the patient wasn't in critical condition.
Doctor Norrid entered the examination room, where he saw a black cat perched upon the nearly lifeless man he was asked to examine.
Fed up, Doctor Norrid blurted, "What the actual fu-"
"It's a kitty!" a female nurse suddenly exclaimed after walking in with another nurse.
Doctor Norrid rolled his eyes, then said, "Thank you for stating the obvious. Could you kindly remove it?" For some reason, this cat made him angry.
The female nurse reached out to pick up the cat, but the cat swatted her hand away.
"Hey! I'm trying to help you!"
The black cat looked at her in disgust.
"Come here kitty!" said the male nurse as he reached for the cat.
The black cat nimbly dodged the nurse's hands and then kicked his head. The cat perched proudly on the
Doctor Norrid rubbed his eyes as he felt a headache coming on. "Just leave it! It's probably the patient's cat. Go hookup the EEG and some Aspirin."
"What's the Aspirin for?" the male nurse asked.
"For me! I can feel a headache coming and dealing with a nurse that questions directions isn't helping!"
Both nurses quickly left to get what the doctor asked.
Doctor Norrid looked at the man, Jack Dawson, that was lying comfortably in his bed. He couldn't believe Jack was in his twenties but looked like he was in his eighties.
"Tests didn't show anything, no visible wounds or anything. What happened to you?" Doctor Norrid said.
Doctor Norrid looked at the tray next to the bed and saw the man's comm and a ring box. He popped open the ring box and saw what appeared to be a very expensive engagement ring inside of it.
"Lucky girl maybe. You could be a horrible person for all I know."
Doctor Norrid looked down when he felt something against his leg. He looked down and saw the black cat rubbing up against his leg.
"You ignore the one that wants to give you attention but rub against the one fighting the urge to punt you. Uggg, I hate this job."
Doctor Norrid reaches down, picks up the cat, and then places it on the patient's chest.
"I was supposed to be a doctor aboard Battle 8, but it was too peaceful, so command left the spot empty. Now I'm stuck doing this graveyard shift here in City 8."
No idea why, but Doctor Norrid felt like the cat was listening to him.
"You know, I want to feel important. The other doctor's received credit for saving this guy's life, but he wasn't in danger of dying. I wish something would happen like an accident, or an explosion, something where I can be acknowledged!" Doctor Norrid started feeling his anger rising while staring deep into this cat's eyes. "We need a war!"
At that moment, the nurses returned to the examination room and paused when they saw Doctor Norrid staring at the cat.
"Uhhh, here is what you requested." the male nurse said nervously and handed Doctor Norrid a bottle of Aspirin and a bottle of water.
The female nurse silently wheeled up the EEG machine to the patient and started connecting the leads to the patient.
Doctor Norrid felt his anger subside a little bit when the cat jumped away when the nurse approached. "Thanks. Sorry for earlier, you two can head to the break room. No sense all of us wasting time here."
The two nurses thanked Doctor Norrid and headed out of the examination room.
Still disguised as a cat, Illuzo quietly read the thoughts of Doctor Norrid. He felt this man's desire for conflict would help.
Illuzo was initially disgusted with this tiny creature called a cat. He found that its noble stature and mood swings fit his personality well. Illuzo also figured cats must be of higher status since he could do anything he wanted, and most just dismissed him as being a cat.
"For now I'll abide, time is on my side!" Illuzo cackled to himself.
__________
Dirk burst through the door into the room where his band, The Red Bombers, practiced. He saw Lyle look up from his drums while Roy and Oscar looked surprised at Dirk's sudden entrance.
"You guys will never believe this unless I just show you!" Dirk exclaimed, a big smile plastered on his face.
Dirk proudly held the message with the four front-row tickets for the Night Raven's concert this weekend in front of his bandmates.
"IS THAT!?! DON'T YOU DARE BE LYING TO ME!" Roy yelled.
Roy excitedly grabbed Dirk's arm and then poked Dirk's comm directly. He wanted to ensure it was actual tickets and not just a picture of ticket vouchers.
"I can see my Lisa in person!" Roy yelled again.
Dirk, Roy, and Lyle grinned excitedly at each other.
Oscar didn't want to be the bearer of bad news but felt it better to get them back to reality and said, "This is great, but how are we going to get there?"
Dirk made a decent living as a pilot but rented this studio weekly.
Roy worked as a stagehand and construction worker, but not full-time.
Lyle... nobody knew what Lyle did, and he never mentioned it. When asked, Lyle just shook his head.
Oscar's family was wealthy, but he didn't make much anymore. He acted when he was younger, but his parents wanted him to continue that, so he was cut off when he quit.
Having a car was one thing, but having a spaceworthy vehicle wasn't something they couldn't afford.
Roy turned to Dirk and said, "You're stealing a shuttle from Battle 8!"
"No, that's a terrible idea!" Dirk exclaimed. He considered that too, but hearing it come from Roy's mouth made him realize it was a terrible idea.
Dirk racked his brain for a moment to try and think of nonconventional ways to get there.
Macross 8 and 10 were self-contained. They didn't need to trade goods or services.
Roy started whining about how he would ever get to see his ideal Zentradi woman.
Dirk knew he was talking about Lisa, but a different Zentradi woman came to mind.
"Stealing shuttle could work as long as we're not stealing it, right?" Dirk said with a grin.
"Plausible deniability," Roy said while Lyle nodded beside him.
Dirk remembered a certain Zentradi woman that would be able to steal a shuttle and get away with it. The only problem is what she would want in return.
__________
Elise lazily rolled over in her bed while wearing a simple set of blue pajamas. She was watching a popular movie starring Garrett Forger projected on her wall.
Her bedroom was quite plain, but it had a lot of pictures of her family, her squadmates, and even one of Dirk's band.
Elise would've liked to decorate it more, but after joining the military, she felt it wasn't fitting to have girly decorations. She reached under the bed and pulled out an old plush teddy bear.
The bear was given to Elise when she was five. The bear had slightly chipped glass eyes and a stitched-up arm, and the stuffing was lumpy with age.
"You're still with me, Sir Bears."
Elise fondly held up the bear and then laid back in her bed.
On the screen, a close-up of Garrett Forger occurred during the movie.
"What do you think of him? Probably full of himself and too good looking, right?" Elise asked Sir Bears.
Elise smiled after she moved Sir Bears's head to make it look like he was nodding.
"Right? Plus, he would probably misunderstand me too."
Elise found herself looking fondly at the picture of The Red Bombers. She then felt her face get flushed and said, "No, it's not what you think! He-"
Elise's comm chirped suddenly with a direct message from someone important, and she jumped slightly. She read through the message and then grinned.
"Dirk wants me to steal a shuttle so he and his friends can go to a concert on Macross 10. That actually sounds like fun! He even said he'd do anything in return."
Elise could've sworn Sir Bears gave her a look of fear just then.
"Hey, he said anything! I'm merely fulfilling the deal!"
Elise hurriedly typed her reply, then hugged Sir Bears and shouted, "Finally, some excitement!"